Scientific seminar “On the Possibility of a Dual-Natured Self and Two Conceptions of Consciousness in Indian Philosophy”

13 May at 19:00 MSK

Ned Block of NYU in the mid 90s drew a distinction between two concepts of con-sciousness — between access consciousness and phenomenal consciousness — based on western philosophy and neuroscience. This distinction can be found in classical Indian philosophy — as the disctinction between dual and non-dual consciousness. It is just as important to research on consciousness now as Ned Block’s distinction because it can capture certain experiences that otherwise cannot be taxonomized. Anand J. Vaidya examines compatibilism and incompatibilism about whether the self can be both a subject and an object in the same awareness at the same time.

The point of departure is the work of A.C. Mukerji (an Indian philosopher of the modern era) who worked on the possibility of self-awareness by articulating the paradox of ego-centricity; also he shall consider Patañjali (an Indian philosopher of the classical era), Merleau-Ponty (a phenomenologist), and Arindam Chakrabarti (a contemporary Indian and Analytic phi-losopher) on the debate over compatibilism. Anand J. Vaidya closes by offering an argument for compatibilism based on an analogy with particle-wave duality in quantum physics and the rela-tion between conceivability and metaphysical modality.