“You've Got Me Blowin', Blowin' My Mind” Eliminativism

Abstract Given the tenacity of the problem, and the otherwise overwhelming support for materialism, the idea that conscious experience is just an illusion – the doctrine of eliminativism – is considered seriously. Two versions of eliminativism are considered: a straight version and one that is combined with representationalism. It is argued that neither version can adequately accommodate our first‐person cognitive access to our own conscious experience, as our substantive and determinate conceptions of qualia would not be possible if qualia themselves were unreal.