The self-consciousness and other minds problem: Comparison of Dennett and Nagel's approaches

The concept of consciousness, the emergence of it, whether one's own state of consciousness and whether other minds can be known have been discussed for a long time and are still at the core of the philosophy of mind. In this study, dualist, materialist and naturalist approaches are compared in order to understand the nature of consciousness, the justification one's of own consciousness and the problem of other minds. Dualist approaches to consciousness treat the mind in a separate status from the body, which brings the problem of interaction between mind and body. Both materialism and naturalism holds a monist approach; thus, the conscioussnes has no privilage statues other than body. In this study, one of the leading materialist philosopher Dennett's materialist approach to the conscioussness, the justification one's of own consciousness and the problem of other minds are discussed. He introduces hetero-phenomenological method in order to justify other minds. The mysterious status of consciousness and the conviction that consciousness cannot be objectively explained began to be dissolve by Dennett's materialist theory. Afterwards, Nagel's naturalism and his objective phenomenology as an alternative way to the problem of conscioussness and other minds are discussed. Nagels' effort to preserve subjective experience distracts consciousness from the basis of scientific explanation, while making it difficult to know the mental processes of other minds, especially non-human living species. However, Dennett made it possible to know both the consciousness, inner world experiences and other minds, with empirical support from the theory of evolution and neuroscience. Dennett's hetero-phenomenological method is essentially more descriptive and supportive than Nagel's objective phenomenology under three headings: the emergence of consciousness, the ability to objectively know consciousness and mental states; the ability to know the minds of other human beings and other non-human species.