Consciousness
- “what is consciousness”
- “hard problem of consciousness”
- “did koch lose the bet”
- “why does anything feel like something”
:: COMPARE ::
Phenomenal consciousnessvsAccess consciousness
The short answer
Ned Block's split: access consciousness is information being available to a system's other subsystems — functional, tractable, roughly 'awareness'. Phenomenal consciousness is the qualitative feel. Conflating the two is how the hard problem gets accidentally declared solved.
Side by side
| Aspect | Phenomenal consciousness | Access consciousness |
|---|---|---|
| Definable by function | No | Yes |
| Measurable | Contested | Yes |
| The hard problem | This one | Not this one |
| Reportable | Not necessarily | By definition |
Which one you meant
Readers who land here meaning Consciousness rather than Access consciousness are usually searching for phrases like “what is consciousness”, “hard problem of consciousness”, “did koch lose the bet”.
Read either one in full