Volume 53, Number 17 · November 2, 2006
Minding the Brain
By John R. Searle
Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness
by Nicholas Humphrey
Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 151 pp., $19.95
After having been neglected for most of the twentieth century, the subject of consciousness has become fashionable. Amazon lists 3,865 books under 'consciousness,' a number of them new releases of the last year or two. What exactly is the problem of consciousness, and why exactly is it so difficult, if not impossible, for us to agree on a solution to it? Of course, there is more than one problem, and there are many different reasons for disagreeing with proposed solutions. The hard problem of consciousness is to account for how it can exist and function in a way that is private, subjective, and qualitative, in a world that consists of public, objective, physical phenomena. How, for example, could the electrochemical activities of a kilogram and a half, about three pounds, of matter in my skull cause all of my conscious experiences? The problem of consciousness is the heart of the traditional 'mind-body problem' in philosophy. What is the relation of the conscious mind to the physical brain and the rest of the body?
Review, 5291 words
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