Unitary and dual models of phenomenal consciousness.

Summary

The argument presented advocates for a dual model of phenomenal consciousness, which distinguishes between the formation of phenomenal qualities and the process that makes these qualities conscious. This perspective challenges the prevailing consensus that phenomenal character cannot exist without consciousness. The authors provide various supporting arguments for this dual model, including conceptual, methodological, neuropsychological, and neural evidence, suggesting that unconscious mental qualities may exist.

Study at a glance

Abstract

There is almost unanimous consensus among the theorists of consciousness that the phenomenal character of a mental state cannot exist without consciousness. We argue for a reappraisal of this consensus. We distinguish two models of phenomenal consciousness: unitary and dual. Unitary model takes the production of a phenomenal quality and it's becoming conscious to be one and the same thing. The dual model, which we advocate in this paper, distinguishes the process in which the phenomenal quality is formed from the process that makes this quality conscious. We put forward a conceptual, methodological, neuropsychological and neural argument for the dual model. These arguments are independent but provide mutual support to each other. Together, they strongly support the dual model of phenomenal consciousness and the concomitant idea of unconscious mental qualities. The dual view is thus, we submit, a hypothesis worthy of further probing and development.