How the Brain Makes Up the Mind: An Approach to the Hard Problem of Consciousness

Abstract

While a strictly scientific solution to the ‘hard problem of consciousness’ is not possible within the terms of a science that excludes the very subjectivity it seeks to explain, the explanatory gulf between mind and matter can be indirectly bridged by taking the point of view of the organism and its sub-agents. The proposal is that the organism constructs phenomenal experience through a process that resembles how meaning is created in language. For humans, conscious experience involves internal representation—to, for, and by an executive agent (the conscious self). This agent is tasked with monitoring the state of the organism and its environment, planning future action, and coordinating various sub-agencies.