Compositions Dispositions and Qualia Anand Rangarajan Department of

Compositions, Dispositions and Qualia Anand Rangarajan Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering University of Florida

Hard Problem of Consciousness § Inadequacy of present day science to deal with consciousness § Varieties of materialism unsatisfactory § Recent challenge from analytic philosophy – Consciousness not logically supervenient on the physical (David Chalmers) § Varieties of idealism, panpsychism, dualism now back on the table

Qualia § Intentionality (aboutness) and qualia - two difficult consciousness-related problems § Set intentionality aside § Qualia – First person experience – Hidden – Sensations, perceptions, emotions and thoughts

Two conceptions of the physical § Just what is meant by the term “physical”? § Dispositions – Resistance, surface properties, extrinsic § Dispositions contrasted with the categorical § All of present day physics a theory of dispositions? § Categorical – Intrinsic nature of the physical (Russel, Stoljar) – Space, time – Particle, field

Intrinsic nature of the physical § Leverage the categorical/dispositional distinction § Categorical as “hidden taxonomy of nature”? § No connection to consciousness at this point § Physics still based on dispositions but tries to infer categorical from dispositional theory?

Qualia and Science § Very difficult to reconcile science and qualia § Other than materialism and radical emergence (dualism, ), all theories face panpsychism problem § Qualia basic? § Qualia supervenient on the categorical?

Qualia and the Categorical § Categorical nature of the physical paints an intrinsic picture § Qualia lights up the interior § Interior and Intrinsic connection? § Simple picture: – Nature has an intrinsic categorical structure – Qualia are logically supervenient on categorical (Stoljar)

The Specter of Panpsychism § Categorical structure not yet fleshed out § Supervenience relationship between qualia and categorical unknown § Categorical structure may allow “low-level” qualia

Compositions § Panpsychism takes qualia all the way down § Compositions - fleshing out the categorical to avoid “naïve panpsychism”

Nested Compositions § Simpler compositions necessary but not sufficient for more complex compositions § Spacetime issues set aside § Silent on potential versus actual compositions for the moment § Compositional physics to replace dispositional physics

Compositions as basic § Paradoxical quality § Qualia (and dispositions) correlate with compositions § Emergence of context and perspective

Discussion § Compositions are the structural-categorical counterpart of qualia – Prehension, sensation, perception, emotion, cognition, intuition, visualization, illumination, pure consciousness event (PCE) all may have categorical counterparts – Dispositions follow suit

Conclusion § Most varieties of materialism, idealism, dualism, panpsychim, dual-aspect theories sidestepped § Remains to be seen if compositional physics can be mathematically formulated