The structure of phenomenal consciousness
Advances in Consciousness Research June 17, 2015 Jonathan P. Opie, Gerard J. O’brien 2 citations
Philosophers now largely reject reductionism to microphysics in favor of functional explanations for the special sciences, but a closer look at scientific practice shows that the actual explanatory strategy is mechanistic: appealing to active material entities organized to produce target phenomena. The authors argue that phenomenal consciousness will also be explained mechanistically, as the activity of specific neural mechanisms in the brain. This perspective implies that consciousness has a complex structural essence, which the chapter explores.