What is consciousness? The answer to this question has been pondered upon, grappled with, and argued about since time immemorial. There has never been an answer that achieved consensus; certainly philosophers have never agreed.

In this book, William Lycan defends an original theory of mind that he calls andquot;homuncular functionalism.andquot; He argues that human beings are andquot;functionally organized information-processing systemsandquot; who have no non-physical parts or properties. However, Lycan also recognizes the subjective phenomenal qualities of mental states and events, and an important sense in which mind is andquot;over and aboveandquot; mere chemical matter. Along the way, Lycan reviews some diverse philosophical accounts of consciousness-including those of Kripke, Block, Campbell, Sellars, and Castaandntilde;eda, among others-and demonstrates how what is valuable in each opposing view can be accommodated within his own theory.

Consciousness is Lycan's most ambitious book, one that has engaged his attention for years. He handles a fascinating subject in a unique and undoubtedly controversial manner that will make this book a mainstay in the field of philosophy of mind.

William G. Lycan is Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of Logical Form in Natural Language and, with Steven Boandeuml;r, Knowing Who. Consciousness, with these earlier works, is a Bradford Book.

In this book, William Lycan reviews the diverse philosophical views on consciousness--including those of Kripke, Block, Campbell, Sellars, and Casteneda--and demonstrates how each opposing view can be accommodated in his framework of belief, an original theory of mind he calls 'homuncular functionalism.'

This text presents a review of the diverse philosophical views on consciousness - including those of Kripke, Block, Campbell, Sellars, and Casteneda and demonstrates how each opposing view can be accommodated in the author's framework of belief, an original theory of mind he calls "homuncular functionalism." Lycan argues that human beings are "functionally organized information-processing systems" who do not have non-physical parts. However, he also recognizes the subjective phenomenal quality of the mind, an important sense in which mind is "over and above" mere chemical matter.