Easy Problem of Consciousness
refers to the various cognitive and neural processes that give rise to our subjective experience
–> concerned with the functional and mechanistic aspects of consciousness
–> perception, attention, memory, and the integration of information
–> concerned with psychological consciousness
Hard Problem of Consciousness
deals with the fundamental question of why and how subjective experiences arise from physical processes in the brain
–> concerned with the subjective or experiential (first-person) nature of consciousness
–> concerned with phenomenal consciousness
Constraints in discussing the hard problem
- take consciousness seriously
- take science seriously
- take consciousness to be a natural phenomenon –> natural laws
Qualia
a mental state is conscious if it has a qualitative feel
–> the subjective qualities of experiences that cannot be reduced to physical or objective properties
Types of Conscious Experience
- sensory experiences
- Pain
- bodily sensations
- Mental imagery (moving inward to come to mental images)
- Conscious Thought (associated with qualia)
- Emotions
- The Sense of Self
Phenomenal Concept of Mind/Consciousness
- subjective/experiential aspect of consciousness
- “what it feels like”
- qualia: qualities/properties of subjective experiences
- first-person data
- not yet fully understood —> hard problem
Psychological Concept of Mind/Consciousness
- concerned with the content and processing of mental representations
- cognitive and functional aspects of consciousness
- introspective accessibility of information –> awareness
- third-person data
- causal role in the production of behavior
- integrates perception, thought, memory, and emotion
How can mental properties be defined?
every mental property is either a phenomenal property, a psychological property, or some combination of the two
–> phenomenal and psychological properties often run together because they tend to co-occur and are bound by everyday concepts
Belief
- psychological property
- explanatory construct: we attribute beliefs to others largely in order to explain their behavior
- a being must at least be capable of conscious experiences to believe anything at all
Deflationary concept of belief
belief is purely psychological, not involving conscious experience
Inflationary concept of belief
conscious experience is required for truly believing
—> philosophical zombie: psychological without phenomenal consciousness
Varieties of Psychological Consciousness
- awakeness = consciousness defined as not asleep
- introspection = awareness of internal contents
- reportability = report contents of mental states
- self-consciousness = ability to think about ourselves
- attention = consciousness when paying attention
- voluntary control = consciousness when deliberate
- knowledge = consciousness when a fact is known
Awareness
a state wherein we have access to some information and can use that information in the control of behavior
–> conscious experience that is reportable
Link between consciousness and awareness
consciousness (phenomenal consciousness) is always accompanied by awareness (psychological consciousness), but awareness need not be accompanied by consciousness
–> one can be aware of a fact without any particular associated phenomenal experience
