Abstract:

The article begins with a discussion about what might constitute consciousness in entities other than oneself and the implications of the mind-brain debate for the possibility of a conscious machine. While referring to several other facets of the philosophy of mind, the author focuses on epiphenomenalism and interactionism and presents a critique of the former in terms of biological evolution. The interactionist argument supports the relevance of parapsychology to the problem of consciousness and the statistical technique of meta-analysis is cited in support of this position.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, UK., Email: John.Beloff@ed.ac.uk