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Scientific Research

Abstract

Why Standard 'Mental State' Talk is Incoherent

The standard functionalist use of 'mental state' conflates the technical meaning of 'state' as instantaneous with the loose popular meaning reflecting a temporally extended condition. Two thought experiments show that there is nothing it is like to be in an instantaneous state and suggest that process should replace state as a central notion in cognitive scientific explanation. Related arguments indicate a conceptual connection between phenomenal experience and underlying cognition, although without establishing the full-fledged logical supervenience of consciousness.