More qualia trouble for functionalism

the smythies tv-hood analogy

Edmond Wright

pp. 365-382

in: Synthese 97 (3), 1993.

Abstract

It is the purpose of this article to explicate the logical implications of a television analogy for perception, first suggested by John R. Smythies (1956). It aims to show not only that one cannot escape the postulation of qualia that have an evolutionary purpose not accounted for within a strong functionalist theory, but also that it undermines other anti-representationalist arguments as well as some representationalist ones.