The Department of Philosophy cordially invites you to the Public Defense of the
PhD Dissertation
by
Holger Thiel
on
The Special Phenomenal Composition Question
Supervisor: Howard Robinson
Members of the Defense Committee:
Barry Dainton (University of Liverpool)
Philip Goff (CEU)
Chair: Simon Rippon
Abstract
This dissertation is concerned with the composition of phenomenal consciousness. The guiding question is van Inwagen's Special Composition Question (SCQ) and asks under what condition is it true that there is some whole object such that the parts compose it.
The first part of this thesis lays out the foundations from general metaphysics and presents possible answers to SCQ. One answer under special consideration is moderatism according to which there is some whole object under the condition that the parts are integrated. Correspondingly, the second part of this thesis discusses the Special Phenomenal Composition Question (SPCQ) and asks under what condition is it true that there is some total phenomenal state such that single phenomenal states compose it. Among the possible answers to SPCQ phenomenal moderatism is prominently discussed according to which it is true that there is some total phenomenal state under the condition that the single states are integrated.