Attributions of consciousness

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Philosophy of Mind
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Explaining consciousness, particularly phenomenal consciousness, remains a significant challenge in modern science.
• The existence of phenomenal consciousness is often considered self-evident in everyday perception.
• This perception motivates research into laypeople's intuitions regarding consciousness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss the philosophical concept of phenomenal consciousness.
• To review experimental research on whether laypeople possess the concept of phenomenal consciousness.
• To investigate how individuals understand and attribute phenomenally conscious mental states.

Main Methods:

• Review of philosophical arguments for the existence of phenomenal consciousness.
• Analysis of experimental philosophy of mind studies.
• Investigation of laypeople's intuitions and attributions of conscious mental states.

Main Results:

• Philosophical claims about the obviousness of phenomenal consciousness are central to its study.
• Experimental research in the philosophy of mind is actively investigating laypeople's conceptual understanding of consciousness.
• The study details work examining whether non-experts possess the concept of phenomenal consciousness.

Conclusions:

• Understanding laypeople's conceptualization of phenomenal consciousness is crucial for addressing the problem of consciousness.
• Experimental approaches offer valuable insights into folk intuitions about subjective experience.
• Further research is needed to fully elucidate the folk concept of phenomenal consciousness.