Subjectivity and the Conscious Mind

FAIN: FT-51858-03

Peter Mandik
William Paterson University (Wayne, NJ 07470-2103)

I develop a theory of the mental representation of subjective properties, the primary application of which concerns consciousness. Typical theories of mental representation focus on the representation of objective properties. However, objectivist theories have notorious difficulties in accounting for the subjectivity of conscious mental states. A subject has knowledge of what it is like to be in certain conscious states that seems ill accounted for by the mere representation of objective properties. Some philosophers have responded to such problems by seeking non-representational accounts. I offer that representational explanations can be retained if a more significant role is allotted the representation of subjective properties.