Journal of Consciousness Studies
October 1, 2025
Uriah Kriegel
This paper defends four main theses. First, at least some conscious experiences are aesthetically valuable. Second, phenomenal consciousness as a whole – as a general phenomenon – is plausibly an aesthetically valuable addition to the universe. Third, the fact that something like phenomenal consciousness exists in a world otherwise consisting in particles mindlessly buzzing in mostly empty...
The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Consciousness
July 9, 2020
Uriah Kriegel
3 citations
The centerpiece of the scientific study of consciousness is the search for the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). Yet science is typically interested not only in discovering correlations, but also—and more deeply—in explaining them. When faced with a correlation between two phenomena in nature, we typically want to know why they correlate. The purpose of this chapter is twofold. The...
Analysis
July 1, 2019
Uriah Kriegel
62 citations
Recent work within such disparate research areas as the epistemology of perception, theories of well-being, animal and medical ethics, the philosophy of consciousness, and theories of understanding in philosophy of science and epistemology has featured disconnected discussions of what is arguably a single underlying question: What is the value of consciousness? The purpose of this paper is to...
Oxford Scholarship Online
March 22, 2018
Uriah Kriegel
Chap. 1 concerned Brentano’s theory of consciousness, and Chap. 2 his theory of intentionality, the mark of the conscious. This chapter lays the foundations for the rest of the book by discussing the three fundamental modes of conscious intentionality in Brentano’s theory of mind. This three-way distinction is crucial, as will later be seen, to Brentano’s metaphysics and value theory.
Oxford Scholarship Online
March 22, 2018
Uriah Kriegel
It is argued that for Brentano, a conscious perception of a tree is a single mental state that can be (accurately) conceived of, or framed, either as a perception of a tree or as a perception of a perception of a tree. It is further argued that this interpretation casts Brentano’s theory as quite a bit more plausible than it is commonly taken to be, indeed more plausible than many modern...
Philosophy Compass
2006
Uriah Kriegel
Abstract Phenomenal consciousness is the property mental states, events, and processes have when, and only when, there is something it is like for their subject to undergo them, or be in them. What it is like to have a conscious experience is customarily referred to as the experience's phenomenal character . Theories of consciousness attempt to account for this phenomenal character. This...
Canadian Journal of Philosophy
March 1, 2003
Uriah Kriegel
190 citations
The word ‘consciousness’ is notoriously ambiguous. This is mainly because it isnota term of art, but a mundane word we all use quite frequently, for different purposes and in different everyday contexts. In this paper, I am going to discuss consciousness in one specific sense of the word. To avoid the ambiguities of the word ‘consciousness,’ I will introduce a term of art:intransitive...