Neural Correlates of Consciousness: Structuralism and the How Test

Sascha Benjamin Fink (Otto von Guericke Universität, Magdeburg)

Title: Neural Correlates of Consciousness: Structuralism and the How Test

Abstract: How can we test NCC-hypotheses? In recent years, a kind of test has become prominent, where researchers predict interindividual differences in experience from interindividual differences in neural structures. This test (the How-Test) only makes sense if we accept the assumption that certain neural structures and phenomenal structures are systematically linked. Based on this, I sketch a form of structural realism for this field of study. I distinguish different forms in which we can be structuralists, argue for a specific kind of neurophenomenal structuralism and defend it against the classical qualia view.

Bio: Sascha Benjamin Fink is currently Juniorprofessor for Neurophilosophy at the Programme for Philosophy–Neurosciences–Cognition at the Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, a member of the Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences at Magdeburg and co-editor-in-chief of the journal Philosophy and the Mind Sciences. He studied philosophy, history of art, biology and Japanese studies in Mainz, Florence and Tokyo and handed in his PhD on foundational issues in a neuroscience of consciousness at the Institute for Cognitive Science at the University of Osnabrück. His research focus is on the neuroscience of consciousness.

To obtain the Zoom link for this talk, please contact the staff seminar convenor Jacqueline Broad ([email protected]).