Cartesian theater

File:Cartesian Theater.svg

Objects experienced are represented within the mind of the observer

The Cartesian theater is a term coined by philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett to critique a persistent flaw in theories of mind, introduced in his 1991 book Consciousness Explained.

It mockingly describes the idea of consciousness as a centralized "stage" in the brain where perceptions are presented to an internal observer. Dennett ties this to Cartesian materialism, which he considers to be the often unacknowledged residue of René Descartes’ dualism in modern materialist views. This model implies an infinite regress, as each observer would require another to perceive it, a problem Dennett argues misrepresents how consciousness actually emerges.

The phrase echoes earlier skepticism from Dennett’s teacher, Gilbert Ryle, who in The Concept of Mind (1949) similarly derided Cartesian dualism’s depiction of the mind as a "private theater" or "second theater."

Overview

Descartes originally claimed that consciousness requires an immaterial soul, which interacts with the body via the pineal gland of the brain.Template:Sfn Dennett says that, when the dualism is removed, what remains of Descartes' original model amounts to imagining a tiny theater in the brain where a homunculus (small person), now physical, performs the task of observing all the sensory data projected on a screen at a particular instant, making the decisions and sending out commands (see Homunculus argument).Template:Sfn

The term "Cartesian theater" was brought up in the context of the multiple drafts model that Dennett posits in Consciousness Explained (1991): Template:Quote

See also

• Circular reasoning
• Global workspace theory
• Inside Out
• Münchhausen trilemma
• The Numskulls
• Personal horizon
• Purusha
• Turtles all the way down
• Vertiginous question

External links

• Richard Chappell on "The Cartesian Theater"