Abstract

Two problems that arise for a realistic theory of consciousness are considered. First, what is the nature of the unity which each consciousness possesses at a moment, notwithstanding the plurality of its contents? Of this it is argued that, as a condition of the possibility of a plurality of co-existing consciousnesses, each consciousness at a moment must be ontologically elementary, and that the plurality within consciousness is only the exemplification of phenomenal objects. Secondly, what must be the nature of consciousness insofar as there can be a plurality of co-existing consciousnesses? Of this it is argued that phenomenological quality must have the status of a reflexive relation. ;A third essay is included on the solution to a problem, raised by Goodman in The Structure of Appearance, of defining a distance function on a set from a non transitive relation of 'matching' on its elements