Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness
It is undeniable that some organisms are subjects of experience. But
the question of how it is that these systems are subjects of experience
is perplexing. Why is it that when our cognitive systems engage in visual
and auditory information-processing, we have visual or auditory experience:
the quality of deep blue, the sensation of middle C? How can we explain
why there is something it is like to entertain a mental image, or to experience
an emotion? It is widely agreed that experience arises from a physical
basis, but we have no good explanation of why and how it so arises. Why
should physical processing give rise to a rich inner life at all? It seems
objectively unreasonable that it should, and yet it does.
