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Unlike David Chalmers, philosopher Daniel Dennett believes that consciousness can be explained.

 

Chalmers takes the view that consciousness is fundamental. It comes first. For Chalmers, epistemic primacy lies with consciousness. The external world comes second. In this view, what we talk of as our experience of the 'real world out there' is partly constructed by our consciousness, which also helps us experience an inner world of pain, pleasure etc.

 

Daniel Dennet, on the other hand, is a physicalist. He believes that the p[hysical world comes first, and that a full understanding of it will allow us eventually to explain how the experience of consciousness is generated by the activity of our brain cells (neurons). For Dennett, epistemic primacy lies with the physical world.

 

In his TED talk Dennett shows how our consciousness is limited and easily deceived, and how it generally delivers what past experience leads us to expect, rather than what is 'really there'. The conclusion would be that consciousness evolved to serve a useful purpose through the generation of an information base tailored to survival rather than truth. It shouldn't therefore be relied on as a foundation for knowledge. Dennett thinks it's better to look for an explanation of consciousness in our consistent experience of the physical world, rather than seeking an explanation of the physical world starting from our flawed experience of consciousness. In this sentiment he differs diametrically from Descartes (I think, therefore I am) and, of course, from Chalmers.

 

Material:

Video (21.35 minutes)

Daniel Bennett  TED Talk 

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