Being Mindful of Zombies and Phenombies

Abstract: “Philosophical zombies” often figure in the contemporary philosophy of mind literature to argue for or against some theories of the nature of mind and mental states. In this paper we draw on zombies to illuminate certain aspects of our common, ordinary concepts of consciousness and mind. We also call in, for the same purpose, the help of a hypothetical being that we created, which we call “phenombie.