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Dennet's book, "Conciousness Explained" (
http://tinyurl.com/c342p), is an attempt to situate conciousness in a place open to science-like investigation and explanation. It's a very interesting read. He's an academic philosopher, but his books are intended for general readers.
His basic idea is that conciousness is not a single type of 'thing' that happens, and does not, of itself, play the role of a decider in mental processes. Rather, it's the result of many different, unconnected, mental processes, each of which has reached a level of complexity which provides specific evolutionary advantages.
Basically the idea that conciousness is an epi-phenomena of the brian, but being more specific about how and why that occurs.
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His on my reading list. Am I correct in thinking:
He is not explaining how these conscious phenomena are caused.
He is not claiming they are necessary.
chez