Concept
Consciousness
Subjective experience: the fact that there is something it is like to perceive, feel, or think.
Updated Nov 2, 2026 · 1 min read · 4 connections
- Hard problem
- David Chalmers, 1995
- Related fields
- Neuroscience, philosophy of mind
The hard problem
David Chalmers distinguished the “easy” problems of explaining cognitive functions from the hard problem of explaining why those functions are accompanied by experience at all. The distinction frames much of the philosophy of mind.
Scientific study
Neuroscience looks for patterns of neuron activity that reliably accompany conscious states. Whether a neural network or other machine could be conscious is debated, often with reference to the Chinese room.