ABSTRACT
I have chosen to discuss some aspects of the problem of consciousness. The investigation of the role of consciousness has once again become central to theoretical and empirical work on human thought and action. Because the future of experimental psychology is one of the themes of this volume, discussing a currently active topic seems to be one way of looking into that future. Another way of approaching that theme might be to let one’s imagination wander in order to predict what experimental psychologists will be doing 20 or 50 years from now. Such fantasies are typically unconstrained by reality; they are more likely to reveal the wishes and hopes (or fears and forebodings) of the predictor. I prefer to look briefly at our past and at important problems facing us today.
