Philosophical Debates on Consciousness
About this ebook
What It Feels Like to Think About Thinking—Until It Thinks Back
Why does consciousness exist?
What is the self—and can it disappear?
Could your dog be sentient, your phone be faking it, or the universe itself be aware?
In Philosophical Debates on Consciousness, you’ll journey through the most mind-bending, soul-searching, and neuron-pinging questions in philosophy today. From Descartes’ dualism to Chalmers’ hard problem, from panpsychism and AI ethics to psychedelic ego death and cosmic mind theories—this book doesn’t promise final answers. But it does promise the best questions.
Accessible yet rigorous, irreverent yet respectful, this is not a textbook. It’s a guided tour through the philosophical jungle of:
Zombies that behave like you (but feel nothing),
Scientists who know everything about color (but haven’t seen red),
Brains that split in two (but still argue over lunch),
And flashlights that can’t quite find their own beam.
Whether you’re a philosopher, scientist, mystic, or simply human, this book is for anyone who’s ever wondered:
What is it like to be?
And why does it matter?
Clever, compassionate, and unafraid of confusion, Philosophical Debates on Consciousness invites you not to solve the mystery—but to sit with it.
About the author
Vincent Froom is a philosopher with a wicked sense of humor and an aversion to intellectual boredom. They have spent decades wandering both dusty archives and the latest neuroscience labs—sometimes simultaneously. His past research has explored the nature of conscious awareness, the ethics of machine minds, and whether psychedelic visions count as legitimate philosophy (Vincent’s verdict: “Absolutely—so long as you remember to take notes”).
A regular speaker at academic conferences and public forums, Vincent delights in challenging assumptions, whether he’s onstage with neuroscientists or debating panpsychists over coffee (or possibly craft beer). His writing style is characterized by razor-sharp logic, robust scholarship, and the occasional dad joke—because if you can’t laugh at a zombie thought experiment, what’s the point?
When he’s not unraveling the mysteries of the mind, Vincent enjoys taking long walks in nature—where he thinks best, often unbothered by the occasional squirrel who seems pretty conscious, too. He lives in Vancouver with his partner, two cats (self-proclaimed philosophers), and a growing collection of obscure philosophy books.
