Is phenomenal consciousness really a special case in science?
Frontiers in psychology January 1, 2024 Klaus Gärtner, João L Cordovil 1 citation
The standard view that higher-level properties are grounded in micro-physical properties fails even in physics and chemistry, so arguments that phenomenal consciousness is a special exception to physicalism are misguided. The paper introduces a general notion of grounding, then examines the zombie and knowledge arguments against physicalism about consciousness. It shows that in particle physics and chemistry, the expected reductive relation does not hold, undermining the claim that consciousness is uniquely problematic. The authors propose an alternative way to naturalize phenomenal consciousness within the natural world.