What this is
“Perhaps no aspect of mind is more familiar or more puzzling than consciousness” — Robert Van Gulick calls it “arguably the central issue in current theorizing about the mind” (SEP: Consciousness). PhilPapers (editor David Chalmers) groups the area into: Explaining Consciousness; Consciousness and Materialism; Theories of Consciousness; Consciousness and Content; Aspects of Consciousness; Conscious States; Qualia; Self-Consciousness; and Science of Consciousness.
Current conversations
- Can it be explained physically? The hard problem, explanatory gap and cognitive closure — see sub-topics Hard and Easy Problems, Cognitive Closure (Mysterianism).
- Arguments against materialism: zombies, the knowledge argument — sub-topic Consciousness and Materialism.
- Which theory? Higher-order and self-representational theories (Kriegel), global workspace and integrated information, panpsychism — sub-topics Theories of Consciousness, Science of Consciousness, Panpsychism.
- Consciousness and content — PhilPapers (editor David Bourget); SEP: Consciousness and Intentionality
People to follow
David Chalmers (consc.net) · Uriah Kriegel (Rice profile) · Colin McGinn
Suggested learning path
- Overview: SEP: Consciousness
- Free course: MIT OCW 24.09 Minds and Machines, an introduction to philosophy of mind
- The hard problem: SEP: Zombies · SEP: Qualia: The Knowledge Argument
- Theories: SEP: Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness · SEP: Panpsychism
- Researchers: David Chalmers, consc.net · Uriah Kriegel, Rice
- Books on my list: see Readings (Chalmers, Reality+; Kriegel, Subjective Consciousness)
- Lecture videos and X accounts: to research
My thoughts
Notes here.
Discussion