ABSTRACT
Thinking philosophically about consciousness often feels like a balancing act. Pre-theoretically at least, consciousness defies assimilation to the natural world order; it is strikingly dissimilar to the world of physical or material entities. The conjunction of plurality and austerity makes physicalism attractive. If some thing exists, and physicalism is true, then that thing must be physical. The pull of consciousness' uniqueness is strong, but one cannot be left unimpressed by a preponderance of evidence, both everyday and scientific, that points to the view that whatever consciousness is, it is intimately related to biological makeup. Consciousness might not be the only currently unexplained phenomenon, but the challenge that consciousness poses is, according to them, of a distinct kind. Research on consciousness has undergone the sort of intuitive upheaval that is typical in the sciences but often overlooked in philosophical discussions of the limits of science. This chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
