Description

Everyone has their own view of the nature of consciousness based on their education and
background. The intention of this book is to expand this view by providing an insight into the
various ideas and beliefs on the subject as well as a review of current work in neuroscience.
The neuroscientist should find the philosophical discussion interesting because this provides
first-person insights into the nature of consciousness and also provides some subtle arguments
about why consciousness is not a simple problem. The student of philosophy will find a useful
introduction to the subject and information about neuroscience and physics that is difficult to
acquire elsewhere.
It is often said that consciousness cannot be defined. This is not true; philosophers have
indeed defined it in its own terms. It has two principle components: firstly phenomenal
consciousness which consists of our experience with things laid out in space and time,
sensations, emotions, thoughts, etc., and secondly access consciousness which is the processes
that act on the things in experience. Phenomenal consciousness is much like the “perceptual
space” of psychological and physiological research. It is the many simultaneous events that
become the space of experience in general and it is now a legitimate target of scientific
research.
As will be seen in the following pages, the issue for the scientist and philosopher is to
determine the location and form of the things in phenomenal consciousness. Is phenomenal
consciousness directly things in the world beyond the body, is it brain activity based on things
in the world and internal processes — a sort of virtual reality — or is it some spiritual or other
phenomenon?