ABSTRACT
There is little doubt that, viewed purely from a third-person perspective, the proximal causes of human consciousness are to be found in the brain. Direct micro-stimulation of the occipital lobe for example is sufficient to cause an experience of simple visual forms, stimulation of the temporal lobes, auditory experiences, stimulation of the somatosensory cortex, tactile experiences, and so on (Penfield and Rassmussen, 1950; Lee et al., 2000). Causal processes within the brain are of course embedded within a supporting body and surrounding universe – and there is something deeply mysterious about how activities in brain cells could possibly ‘produce’ conscious experiences. We will return to both of these issues later on. However, provided that we restrict ourselves to thinking of a ‘cause’ in terms of necessary and sufficient neural conditions for a conscious effect to occur, we can place the broader issues ‘on hold’ for the moment, and get on with the business of trying to specify these proximal, neural conditions.
