6.3 David Chalmers and the Problem of Consciousness

The first and perhaps most obvious question to ask is: What is consciousness? Consciousness, some people argue, is our subjective experience of the world: —what it is like to enjoy looking at a sunset, feel pain, or taste chocolate. This may sound simple, but Chalmers argues that there is a deeper mystery to consciousness. He calls this mystery the “easy” and “hard” problems of consciousness: respectively, how do we have consciousness and why do we have consciousness?

According to Chalmers, the “easy problem of consciousness” involves explaining how the brain functions and how brain processes work, that is, the how.

While these problems are complex, Chalmers calls them the “easy” problem as they can theoretically be solved through science, specifically Neuroscience. Neuroscience can explain the mechanics of how the brain processes information to give us sensations such as enjoying a sunset, feeling pain, or tasting chocolate.

By contrast, the “hard problem of consciousness” involves explaining why we have conscious experiences at all, which is a much more challenging topic to explore.

Chalmers suggests that consciousness might require entirely new scientific principles, and he argues that consciousness might even be a fundamental property of the universe such as space or time. (As you learned earlier, not all philosophers believe that space and time are fundamental properties of the universe.) In particular, the “hard problem of consciousness” raises questions relevant to Philosophy of Mind. It also raises questions relevant to Philosophy of Science.

As such, understanding both disciplines helps us to investigate and understand ourselves better as a species and as individuals.