The material constitution of phenomenal consciousness
Advances in Consciousness Research June 17, 2015 Derk Pereboom
A physicalist account of the mind is developed, responding to arguments that conscious experience seems to resist physical explanation. The author first answers the knowledge and conceivability arguments by suggesting introspection might misrepresent phenomenal states as having qualities they lack. An alternative Russellian monist view is then proposed, where unknown intrinsic physical properties ground known microphysical properties and also explain phenomenal consciousness. Finally, a nonreductive physicalism is defended, where the mental is materially constituted by the microphysical rather than identical to it.