5. Consciousness

Abstract

‘Consciousness’ asks: what is consciousness? The concept of consciousness is the subject of much discussion and there is much debate over whether it can be defined at all. Is it possible for a human to know what it is like to be a bat, a creature whose conscious experience is radically different from ours? There are various different forms of consciousness: creature consciousness, state consciousness, phenomenal consciousness, and access consciousness. The ‘hard problem’ is the problem of providing a scientific explanation of consciousness. What is the purpose of consciousness?