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The Counter-schema

It's easy enough to produce a quasi-formal schema which, if instantiated, would produce a refutation of Dennett's position:

Denote the color phi experiment by tex2html_wrap_inline356 ; denote Dennett-targeted traditional theories of cognition by `TTC.' Dennett's argument, overall, is that tex2html_wrap_inline356 is inconsistent with TTC, and that the only other serious contender, MDT, should therefore be affirmed. Now, it's known that in order to show propositions p and q consistent, it suffices to find a consistent r which is consistent with p and which entails q.gif Accordingly, our refutation of Dennett will take this form: We will specify an explanation E of tex2html_wrap_inline356 which is such that

  1. E is consistent, i.e., to deploy a bit of modal logic, tex2html_wrap_inline384 ; and tex2html_wrap_inline386 gif; and
  2. tex2html_wrap_inline392 entails tex2html_wrap_inline356 .


Selmer Bringsjord
Wed Dec 18 23:55:49 EST 1996