Sensing Qualia: Solving the Hard Problem of Consciousness

A new, naturalistic theory of consciousness and sensory experience.

Philosophers of mind and neuroscientists often debate what they call the hard problem of consciousness, that is, how we might account for qualia--our subjective experiences of phenomena like color, taste, pain, smell, and more. In Sensing Qualia, Paul G. Skokowski surveys the most influential theories of mind since Descartes in order to establish a new theory he calls sensory naturalism, which recognizes the senses as natural detectors of physical properties in the world.

Drawing on neuroscience, physics, and philosophy, Skokowski provides a naturalistic framework for studying qualia in the physical world and explores the limits of qualia in androids and AI. The result is a compelling explanation of qualia for anyone curious about the nature of conscious experience in humans and AI.

Paul G. Skokowski is executive director and cofounder of the Center for the Explanation of Consciousness at Stanford University and a fellow in philosophy at St. Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. He is editor of Information and Mind.