Hidden pathways allow the emergence of subjective experiences from
matter, for the emergence of something out of nothing. David Chalmers aptly named
the attempt to unveil such pathways as the Hard Problem of Consciousness. Qualia are
the subjective characteristics of experiences, such as the experience of “greenness”
elicited by the green color. The Hard Problem of Consciousness corresponds to the
search for the origin of qualia. This book divides the Hard Problem in two
complementary components: an operation for the realization of awareness and the
actual content of this awareness. Although the brains of different species might meet
different conditions for the development of species-specific consciousness, all
conscious brains share a mechanism that turns matter into experience. This book
emphasizes the epistemological distinction between descriptions of the neurological
landscapes of species-specific conscious experiences, and a theory that explains
consciousness in all kinds of conscious brains.
Keywords: Content of Awareness, Consciousness Definition, Epistemology of
Consciousness, Hard Problem Components, Hard Problem Definition, Mechanism
of Transcendence, Mechanism for Realization of Awareness, Nothingness,
Natural History and Evolutionary Theory Distinction, Physical and Metaphysical
Differences, Qualia Definition, Thought Experiment.
