Abstract
The so-called hard problem of consciousness is a chimera, a distraction from the hard question of consciousness, which is once some content reaches consciousness, ‘then what happens?’. This question is seldom properly asked, for reasons good and bad, but when asked it opens up avenues of research that promise to dissolve the hard problem and secure a scientifically sound theory of how the human brain produces the (sometimes illusory) convictions that mislead us.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Perceptual consciousness and cognitive access'.
Highlights
The so-called hard problem of consciousness is a chimera, a distraction from the hard question of consciousness, which is once some content reaches consciousness, ‘ what happens?’
The hard problem ‘is the problem of experience’ [1, p. 202], accounting for ‘what it is like’ [2] or qualia. This seemed like a sensible divide-and-conquer research strategy: first, we tackle all the easy problems, and we turn our attention to the hard problem
The identification of the hard problem called for something like a scientific revolution, replacing the standard methods and assumptions of cognitive science with a more radical perspective
Summary
David Chalmers (‘Facing up to the hard problem of consciousness’ [1]) focused the attention of people researching consciousness by drawing a distinction between the ‘easy’ problems of consciousness, and what he memorably dubbed the hard problem. The identification of the hard problem called for something like a scientific revolution, replacing the standard methods and assumptions of cognitive science (which are continuous with the standard methods and assumptions of biology, chemistry and physics) with a more radical perspective. For external representations we can experience both medium and content, oil on canvas as well as people, trees, or whatever. The idea of a spiritual consciousness arises from the illusion that we DO experience the medium of our internal representations, and that it is iconic. We conceptualise the medium of our internal representations by abstracting some features from the content, and attributing them to some kind of spiritual or ghostly substance.
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