(August 27, 2013 at 7:35 am)ChadWooters Wrote: Sorry genkaus. I didn't have time right now to read all the way through Pinker's article, though I will if you truly think it adds something novel to the mind-brain question.
Both you and I recognize that science is not practiced in a philosophical vacuum. Are you certain that he has addressed the the issues of intentionality and qualia?
The question you ask here and the statement made by Harris are two different things. Harris' statement was regarding self-consciousness, something that the scientific article does address and define and neither intentionality nor qualia is necessary to the issue.
However, the article did give me new insight regarding the issue of qualia. Simply put, "experience is awareness of awareness". See if you can puzzle this one out.