A case of shared consciousness

If we were to connect two individuals’ brains together, how would this affect the individuals’ conscious experiences? In particular, it is possible for two people to share any of their conscious experiences; to simultaneously enjoy some token experiences while remaining distinct subjects? The case o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Synthese (Dordrecht) 2021-12, Vol.199 (1-2), p.1019-1037
Main Author: Cochrane, Tom
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brain
Conjoined twins
Consciousness
Documentary films
Education
Epistemology
Identity
Logic
Metaphysics
Neuroscience and Its Philosophy
Philosophers
Philosophy
Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Science
Twins
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Summary:If we were to connect two individuals’ brains together, how would this affect the individuals’ conscious experiences? In particular, it is possible for two people to share any of their conscious experiences; to simultaneously enjoy some token experiences while remaining distinct subjects? The case of the Hogan twins—craniopagus conjoined twins whose brains are connected at the thalamus—seems to show that this can happen. I argue that while practical empirical methods cannot tell us directly whether or not the twins share conscious experiences, considerations about the locality of content processing in the brain entails that they most likely do so.
ISSN:0039-7857
1573-0964
DOI:10.1007/s11229-020-02753-6