Methodological Encounters with the Phenomenal Kind.
Philosophy and phenomenological research March 1, 2012 Nicholas Shea 100 citations
The distinction between phenomenal consciousness (raw subjective experience) and access consciousness (information available for reasoning and reporting) is conceptually clear but empirically difficult to separate. Existing evidence has not resolved whether they can actually occur apart. A major methodological obstacle is that researchers typically rely on verbal reports, which already involve access consciousness. This paper proposes studying phenomenal consciousness as a natural kind, analogous to how water was identified before its chemical structure was known. By treating phenomenal consciousness as a natural kind with an underlying nature to be discovered, researchers can identify instances of it independently of access consciousness, just as non-liquid samples of water are still water. This framework provides a systematic way to move beyond the reliance on verbal report.