ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some central problems that have to be addressed by any account of consciousness. It focuses on a phenomenological account and compares it with other accounts. Like any other tradition, the phenomenological tradition spans many differences. Literally all of the major figures in phenomenology defend the view that a minimal form of self-consciousness is a constant structural feature of conscious experience. The notion of pre-reflective self-consciousness is related to the idea that experiences have a subjective “feel” to them, a certain (phenomenal) quality of “what it is like” or what it “feels” like to have them. The claim that there is a close link between consciousness and self-consciousness is less exceptional than might be expected. Self-directedness has been taken to be constitutive of (intransitive) consciousness, or to put it differently, higher-order theories have typically explained (intransitive) consciousness in terms of self-consciousness.
