Keynote 1: Bayne

Tuesday, July 3 2012 09:15-10:30 @ Dome theatre

Keynote 1: "The unity of consciousness"

Tim Bayne (University of Oxford, Oxford, UK)

SUMMARY

Some theorists maintain that consciousness is necessarily unified; others maintain that although consciousness is typically unified, the unity of consciousness can break down on occasions; and still others argues that the apparent unity of consciousness is an illusion, and that consciousness is typically disunified. This talk provides an overview of the debate between these three approaches to consciousness. I distinguish different forms that the unity of consciousness can take, and I provide some tentative reasons for thinking that there is a sense in which consciousness is necessarily unified. I conclude with a discussion of how debates about the unity of consciousness might inform the development and evaluation of theories of consciousness.