Hard problem of consciousness

The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of explaining why we have qualitative phenomenal experiences. The existence of a "Hard Problem" is controversial and has been disputed by some philosophers.

Phenomenal consciousness characterizes the qualitative character of conscious experience. There is an endless variety of subjective experience and phenomenal consciousness, just as there is an endless variety of individuals and persons. Private, phenomenal consciousness is based on the cumulative public experience of a person. It is hard to describe in general, because it is path-dependent and varies from person to person, because each person has a different history, has met different people during the past, and is adapted to a slighty different world.

The social network of the society of mind as a whole is of fundamental importance, because it offers a solution to the hard problem of consciousness: the social network of the mind determines the kind of subjective experience. Everyone has a uniqe “society of mind”, and a unique social network. Each of us is adapted to a slightly different world (or different “slice” of the same world).

Links

• Wikipedia link to the hard problem of consciousness
• Guardian series about hard problem of consciousness