David Chalmers
David Chalmers
David John Chalmersis an Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist specializing in the areas of philosophy of mind and philosophy of language. He is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Consciousness at the Australian National University. He is also Professor of Philosophy at New York University in the NYU Department of Philosophy. In 2013, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth20 April 1966
CountryUnited States of America
I never expected this to catch on in the way it did! Of course similar observations have been made by any number of people, and the distinction is obvious to anyone who thinks about the subject a little.
Here, the broader issues are already familiar, and discussion has focused at a more sophisticated and detailed level. Within the philosophy of mind, the problem of consciousness is no big news.
Almost everyone agrees that there will be very strong correlations between what's in the brain and consciousness, ... The question is what kind of explanation that will give you. We want more than correlation, we want explanation -- how and why do brain process give rise to consciousness? That's the big mystery.
They are dedicating a large part of their lives to this choir. Any gift from God is meant to be shared.
Any sacred text comes alive in a unique way when it is sung, and composers from Gregorian chant to the present day have known that.
I think it's a stupendous piece. I'm frankly a little surprised that it's not done more often because the music is so wonderful. The writing, especially for wind instruments, is extraordinary. He was just very expressive of the text and very inventive. So there's a wonderful sort of genius use of different styles and an ingenious use of the orchestra. I'm excited that we're doing it because I think people need to hear this piece.
I argue that neuroscience alone isn't enough to explain consciousness, but I think it will be a major part of an eventual theory.