Consciousness

Consciousness is variously defined as subjective experience, awareness, alertness, wakefulness, and the ability to experience "feeling". It is an umbrella term that may refer to a variety of mental phenomena. Consciousness as two major components,

• the private component is associated with the phenomenal consciousness which derives from subjective experience that can not be shared with others. Phenomenal consciousness is responsible for the explanatory gap and the hard problem of consciousness (Chalmers 1996).
• the public, accessible component which is associated with the common understanding which derives from shared objective knowledge, i.e. from things which can be shared with others

Phenomenal consciousness

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. See the hard problem of consciousness.

Books

• David J. Chalmers, The Conscious Mind, (1996) Oxford UP.
• Uriah Kriegel, Subjective Consciousness: A Self-Representational Theory, (2009) Oxford UP
• Joseph Levine, Purple Haze: The Puzzle of Consciousness, (2001) Oxford UP

Links

• Wikipedia link to the Consciousness