History of Philosophical Theories of Consciousness

Abstract

Although hard to define precisely and encompassing a huge range of phenomena, the fundamentally troublesome feature of consciousness is its subjectivity: the curious fact that there is something it is like to be in a conscious mental state, something apparent only to the experiencer. The core problem of consciousness is to explain and define the nature of subjectivity. Philosophical theories of consciousness stem from the long history of the mind–body problem which this article traces from ancient times to the present, focusing on the ways Western philosophers have tried to find a place for consciousness in the natural world.