Consciousness and Inner Awareness

Giving inner awareness centre stage, this volume reshapes our understanding of its nature and its place in the conscious mind.

This volume of new essays advances the philosophical study of inner awareness-the distinctive awareness of our own conscious states often regarded as constitutive of consciousness—by presenting new arguments, accounts, and applications. It will appeal to scholars and students of philosophy of mind and consciousness studies.While reading these lines, you are aware of the words on the page. But are you also aware of seeing them-of your visual experience itself? Some say yes, others no. This is one of the central divides in contemporary philosophy of consciousness. Simply put, the general question is whether consciousness requires some form of self-consciousness. Those who reply affirmatively endorse the Awareness Principle: each conscious mental state is such that its subject is aware of it. The relevant awareness is what we call inner awareness. This volume of new essays examines whether the Awareness Principle is true, what inner awareness is, and its import for our understanding of the conscious mind. Bringing together established and emerging philosophers, it advances the philosophical understanding of inner awareness as a phenomenon in its own right. Scholarly yet accessible, it will interest researchers and students of philosophy of mind and consciousness studies.