Conscious Computations
Valerie Gray Hardcastle
Abstract
[0] In his "Computation and Consciousness," Tim Maudlin (1989) argues
that the impossibility of any computationalist theory of consciousness
follows more or less directly from three very simple principles of
computationalism. Here I argue that Maudlin errs by misconceiving the
difference between an algorithm for computing some function and the
actual computations. This distinction is important because it helps
clarify the significance of supervenience in theories of the mind.
Moreover, it allows that a computational theory of consciousness is
still a viable possibility.