Consciousness as a Subsystem
An essay suggesting that consciousness is a limited subsystem of the brain. and that several instinctive ways of thinking about consciousness are wrong.
James Aitchison
Philosophy and Ideas
All posts, most recent first. Click on titles to read.
An essay suggesting that consciousness is a limited subsystem of the brain. and that several instinctive ways of thinking about consciousness are wrong.
An essay arguing that utilitarianism is a framework that begins with the value of experience, aggregates it across lives, and guides action. I show this structure in Bentham, and how it can be updated.
An essay suggesting that as philosophy only covers the big questions dealt with using philosophical methods, there should be a broader framework — Big Picture Studies — to comprehensively address all of the big picture.
An essay arguing that morality is real in the sense that matters: it is part of practical reason and makes judgements about how to act that can be true or false depending on how facts in the world relate to welfare and other ends.
An essay arguing that we each live in two worlds: the objective external world and our own subjective world. Countless other subjective worlds exist alongside ours. We should be clear how these worlds connect.
My notes on a book that shows that we are on course for global depopulation and makes the case to try to stabilise the population, both for prosperity and as extra lives are valuable.
An essay arguing that ‘Reason’ has four underlying meanings – Reasoning, Rationality, Human Reason and Reasons.
My notes on a short book in which Russell presents his worldview and employs some fine phases and a peculiar metaethics.
My notes on an engaging book showing how human nature can be explained by evolutionary psychology and memetics.
My notes on a fine introductory book about the brain.
An essay arguing that ethical concepts are man-made and can be improved.
My notes on a book about ‘Evolutionary Psychology,’ which considers why natural selection left us vulnerable to mental disorders and how to improve treatments.
An essay arguing that philosophical ethics should include ‘Particular Decisions’ as a category and explicitly cover all of practical reason.
My notes on a book that suggests that doing well with money is more about psychology than intelligence.
My notes on a book that summarises what is know about consciousness and argues for delusionism.
My notes on a book that shows how psychological findings provide a distinctive picture of human nature which can be compared with ancient wisdom and used to provide guidance on how to live.
My notes on a book which investigates the philosophical background to a 1946 meeting where Wittgenstein may have brandished a poker against Popper.
My tips for travelling with only hand luggage and the advantages of travelling light.
My 30-point summary of David Deutsch’s inspiring view of knowledge
My notes on a book suggesting that the secret to productivity isn’t discipline but to feel good .
My notes on a book that discusses how minds evolved and created thinking tools.
An essay suggesting that knowledge be divided into seven domains.
My notes on a book that tells the story of the history of Homo Sapiens.
My note setting out the insights from eight absorbing books on long history.
A short essay arguing that two traditional problems of free will can be dismissed and the third is only true in part.
My notes on an impressive book that presents a lifetime of discoveries about human behaviour.
My review and notes on a delightful biography of philosopher Derek Parfit.
My notes on a book that argues that consequentalist ethical theories just judge the degree to which states of the world and actions are better than alternatives.
A short essay on the valuable distinction between The Reality Mindset and The Mythology Mindset that Steven Pinker introduced in his book ‘Rationality’.
My notes on a book that argues that morality is not objective and therefore that our moral thinking is in error.
An essay discussing John Mackie’s ‘Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong,’ which strongly influenced my views on ethics, mainly from my reactions against it.
My notes on a book that suggests that growth has slowed, the Great Stagnation, as easier ideas have gone, knowledge has become more complex and society has stagnated.
A short essay arguing for naturalism and exploring its significance.
My notes on Russell’s autobiography: fascinating, inspiring, and beautifully written.
My notes on an impressive book making the case for longtermism, the view that positively influencing the future is a key moral priority. Future people count, there could be a lot of them, and we can make their lives go better.
A short essay arguing that purposes and minds only arose with life on earth and, despite our instincts, these concepts should not be used more widely.
My list of the media appearances by Will MacAskill promoting ‘What We Owe The Future, ‘ with links.
My summary of the excellent discussion of abortion by Joshua Greene in his book Moral Tribes
A short essay arguing that we can reason about ends and do it all the time. Only philosophical confusions have made us think otherwise.
A post on the EA Forum arguing that effective altruism should recognise that motivation comes more reliably from following norms and law than from willpower.
My notes on a bnook showing that normative language has an end-relational nature.
Notes on a book showing that westerners are outliers -W.E.I.R.D. – Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic.
Notes on a book about the cumulative power of habits.
A book arguing that the doctrines of the Blank Slate, the Noble Savage and the Ghost in the Machine contradict science and commonsense.
Five recommended books to introduce utilitarianism
Brief points to set out my views on metaethics, utilitarianism and effective altruism
My notes on a book that argues that generation of knowledge makes humanity significant, and may be an infinite process.
My notes on this book on long history. Eurasia was settled first due to its domesticable plants and animals, and its accessibility and scale.
My notes on a book explaining effective altruism’s approach of using evidence and careful reasoning to find how to make the most positive difference.
My notes on a book arguing that we use imagination to simulate our futures but make systematic errors in forecasting our happiness.
A book on writing style, especially Classic Style for non -fiction.
Notes on a book showing that the enlightenment ideas of reason, science, humanism and progress have transformed human well-being.
My notes on a book arguing that the secret of humanity’s success is cumulative cultural evolution.
Notes on a book by a physicist that sets out a naturalistic world view and covers the trajectory of the universe.
My notes on a book that presents a comprehensive naturalistic world view. Starts from levels of explanation – ‘Poetic Naturalism.’ Impressive.
My notes on a book about existential risks. Humanity is on a precipice where it risks destroying itself and losing its great potential.
My notes on a book arguing that our minds are righteous as we make moral judgments instinctively and reasoning mainly confirms our intuitions.
My notes on a book that argues that violence has declined over history. Wide ranging and impressive.
My notes on a book arguing that we should develop a science of morality rather than relying on divine authority or accepting moral relativism.
My notes on a book discussing using happiness evidence to direct policy.
My notes on a book that suggests how happiness science should be applied to improve lives.
My notes on a book arguing that through reasoning we can take an increasingly impartial concern for the interests of all and broaden the circle of moral subjects to include all sentient beings.
My notes on a book introducing utilitarianism.
My notes on a book that sets out Sidgwick’s utilitarian position, relates it to more recent literature and argues for a modern utilitarianism.
My notes on a book arguing that we should use utilitarian reasoning to transcend our automatic moral emotions.
My notes on a book that explains and argues for rationality.
My notes on the book that explains consciousness as controlled hallucination.
A short essay on bodily, psychological and essence concepts of personhood.
A discussion of my favourite philosophical passage, the final section of Derek Parfit’s Reasons and Persons. In a few paragraphs he introduces two profound ideas: the importance of humanity’s long-term future and that non-religious ethics has only just begun.
A briefer statement of my view that normativity is end-relational and that appreciating this resolves the mysteries of practical reason.
A paper for my Birkbeck MA arguing that even if morality is not objective, this does not matter, as morality is only a small element within practical reason.
My Birkbeck MA Thesis arguing that an end-relational approach explains practical reason and morality.
An abridged version of my Birkbeck MA Thesis arguing that an end-relational approach explains practical reason and morality.
An essay for my Birkbeck MA discussing David Hume’s claims about the limited role of reason in morality.
My notes on a book that presents a view of consciousness as having evolved to motivate by making experience enchanting.
An edited script from a 2021 talk to The Philosophical Society: Oxford. I answer ‘Why Should I be Good’ by distinguishing normative and motivating reasons and set out my approach to ethics.
My notes on a book arguing that conscious experience and the self have evolved to be transparent so we think they are real.
An essay arguing that the starting point for ethics should be practical reason broadly rather than morality.