When, in the twenty-first century, psychologists or popularisers ask ‘what is consciousness?’, or refer to the ‘mind body problem’, what are they up to?Does their discourse, sometimes called cognitive science, fall within the modern idea of the natural sciences? Like many before them, some try to reduce human beings to machines: both mind and the brain become computers. Kinds of knowledge outside the sciences are ignored or derogated. Cognitive scientists consequently make it difficult or impossible for them to understand themselves, let alone other people, or to adopt a moral stance. This essay, in contrast, was not generated by a computer, nor is it addressed to one.
