The Character of Consciousness

David J. Chalmers

Philosophy of Mind

The sequel to The Conscious Mind.
Chalmers responds to critics of The Conscious Mind and then develops a positive theory in new directions.

The Character of Consciousness

David J. Chalmers

Description

What is consciousness? How does the subjective character of consciousness fit into an objective world? How can there be a science of consciousness? In this sequel to his groundbreaking and controversial The Conscious Mind, David Chalmers develops a unified framework that addresses these questions and many others. Starting with a statement of the "hard problem" of consciousness, Chalmers builds a positive framework for the science of consciousness and a nonreductive vision of the metaphysics of consciousness. He replies to many critics of The Conscious Mind, and then develops a positive theory in new directions. The book includes original accounts of how we think and know about consciousness, of the unity of consciousness, and of how consciousness relates to the external world. Along the way, Chalmers develops many provocative ideas: the "consciousness meter", the Garden of Eden as a model of perceptual experience, and The Matrix as a guide to the deepest philosophical problems about consciousness and the external world.

The Character of Consciousness

David J. Chalmers

Philosophy of Mind

Introduction
Acknowledgments
I. The Problems of Consciousness
1. Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness
Afterword: From "Moving Forward on the Problem of Consciousness"
II. The Science of Consciousness
2. How Can We Construct a Science of Consciousness?
Afterword: First-Person Data and First-Person Science
3. What is a Neural Correlate of Consciousness?
4. On the Search for the Neural Correlate of Consciousness
III. The Metaphysics of Consciousness
5. Consciousness and its Place in Nature
6. The Two-Dimensional Argument Against Materialism
Afterword: Other Anti-Materialist Arguments
7. Conceptual Analysis and Reductive Explanation (with Frank Jackson)
IV. Concepts of Consciousness
8. The Content of Phenomenal Concepts
9. The Epistemology of Phenomenal Belief
10. Phenomenal Concepts and the Explanatory Gap
V. The Contents of Consciousness
11. The Representational Character of Experience
Afterword: The Two-Dimensional Contents of Perception
12. Perception and the Fall From Eden
13. The Matrix as Metaphysics
Afterword: Philosophical Notes
VI. The Unity of Consciousness
14. What is the Unity of Consciousness (with Tim Bayne)
Appendix: Two-Dimensional Semantics

The Character of Consciousness

David J. Chalmers

Philosophy of Mind

Author Information

David J. Chalmers is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Centre for Consciousness at Australian National University and New York University. He is the author of The Conscious Mind, Philosophy of Mind: Classic and Contemporary Readings, and editor of the OUP series Philosophy of Mind.

The Character of Consciousness

David J. Chalmers

Philosophy of Mind

Reviews and Awards

"For all that Chalmers offers us his magnificent, mammoth and challenging tour de force, there are many conservative strands in his thought that warrant serious challenge. The first step is to get to know his arguments in detail -- and there is no better place to start than with this book."--Daniel D. Hutto, Philosophy

"This huge collection is very well written and well organized. Readers can start their intellectual journey from virtually any chapter, and try to broaden their intellectual journey by reading related chapters. The technicality is limited so that it does not thwart understanding in general. It is written for both professional philosophers and serious lay people." --Metapsychology

"This valuable book brings together the important work that David Chalmers has done on the topic of consciousness since the publication of his seminal The Conscious Mind in 1996. It includes an expanded treatment of his semantic two-dimensionalism and his argument against physicalism, along with a number of insightful discussion of conscious experience that are independent of these. No one interested in these topics should be without this book." --Sydney Shoemaker, Cornell University