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The Concept of Qualia in Human Experience

Arpita Nayak, Ipseeta Satpathy, Vishal Jain

Advances in Computational Intelligence and Robotics December 12, 2025 DOI: 10.4018/979-8-3373-5530-6.ch001 (opens in new tab)

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AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Key points Argues that qualia are fundamental to consciousness and that computing architectures may not bridge the gap between information processing and genuine subjective experience.

Abstract

Qualia, the subjective and ineffable aspects of experience, are explored here as fundamental elements of consciousness shaping affect and interpretation.. It critically examines the traditional and modern arguments with regards to their ontology and explanatory predicament using the classical contributions of the arguments by Thomas Nagel, Daniel Dennett, and David Chalmers. Dennett opposes the existence of qualia by arguing that it could be dissolved soon we understand the operations of the mind, whereas Nagel defends the epistemic inaccessibility of subjective experience in the so-called what it is like formulation of that fact. Chalmers highlights the hard problem of consciousness, where materialism cannot explain subjective experience. This analysis explores whether computing architectures can bridge the metaphysical and epistemological gap between information processing and genuine experience.

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