A satisfactory theory of consciousness remains elusive because both dualism and materialism wrongly exclude consciousness from the physical world. Consciousness consists of feeling, sentience, or awareness with five essential features: qualitativeness, ontological subjectivity, a unified conscious field, intentionality, and intentional causation. All conscious states are caused by lower-level neurobiological processes in the brain and are realized as higher-level brain features. Efforts to explain how brain processes cause consciousness have been disappointing. The unified conscious field gives organisms vastly increased power, and consciousness is necessary for higher functions of human and animal life.
A scientific solution to the problem of consciousness is possible, but philosophical and scientific obstacles must first be overcome. The author proposes solutions to the philosophical issues and offers approaches for tackling the scientific ones.
Philosophy often presents apparent contradictions between two compelling but seemingly incompatible views, such as a material universe versus the existence of minds, determinism versus free will, or objective moral truth versus moral subjectivity. The author describes this pattern as typical in philosophy and notes that while some find such contradictions exasperating, others—including the author—find them fun and challenging.