ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that a theory of consciousness should take experience as fundamental. The ambiguity of the term 'consciousness' is often exploited by both philosophers and scientists writing on the subject. The coherence between consciousness and awareness also allows a natural interpretation of work in neuroscience directed at isolating the substrate of consciousness. The double-aspect principle stems from the observation that there is a direct isomorphism between certain physically embodied information spaces and certain phenomenal information spaces. Most existing theories of consciousness either deny the phenomenon, explain something else, or elevate the problem to an eternal mystery. A nonreductive theory of experience will add new principles to the furniture of the basic laws of nature. The principle of structural coherence allows for a very useful kind of indirect explanation of experience in terms of physical processes. The problem of consciousness is puzzling in an entirely different way.
