The Neurophilosophy of Subjectivity

The so-called subjectivity of conscious experience is central to much recent work in the philosophy of mind. Subjectivity is the alleged property of consciousness whereby one can know what it is like to have certain conscious states only if one has undergone such states oneself. I review neurophilosophical work on consciousness and concepts pertinent to this claim and argue that subjectivity eliminativism is at least as well supported, if not more supported, than subjectivity reductionism. § 0. Introduction Conscious experience, according to many philosophers, is subjective. Claims about the so-called subjectivity of consciousness are offered as apparently obvious facts about consciousness. Further, in much philosophical literature, these supposedly obvious claims are exploited as the bases for some not-at-all-obvious conclusions, like, for instance, the conclusion that no neuroscientific theory could possibly explain consciousness. If such claims are correct, then the neurophilosophy of consciousness is somewhere between impossible and ridiculous. In this article, I will present a case that claims of the subjectivity of consciousness are far from obvious or innocent and are instead very strong empirical claims about the structure, acquisition, and content of concepts. As such, it is entirely appropriate to bring empirical considerations to bear on the question of whether experience is essentially subjective. I describe various neurophilosophical accounts of the relevant notions (concepts, consciousness, sensation, introspection, etc.) and build a case against the subjectivity of consciousness. Along the way I discuss the prospects of neurophilosophical accounts of subjectivity and argue for the superiority of subjectivity eliminativism over subjectivity reductionism. My plan is as follows. First, I conduct a quick review of the notion of subjectivity as it figures in some classic discussions in the philosophy of mind, especially those surrounding the work of Nagel and Jackson. I develop the idea that the account of subjectivity is one-way knowability. Next, I turn to discuss neurophilosophical perspectives on the topics of consciousness, phenomenal character, and "knowing what it is like". Finally, I bring the insights developed in the previous sections to bear on the twin questions of whether (1) in perception, we perceive properties that may be known in no other way and (2) in introspection we introspect properties that may be known in no other way. My conclusions will be that both questions merit negative answers.