The Concept of Qualia in Human Experience
Abstract
Qualia, the subjective and ineffable aspects of experience, are explored here as fundamental elements of consciousness shaping affect and interpretation.. It critically examines the traditional and modern arguments with regards to their ontology and explanatory predicament using the classical contributions of the arguments by Thomas Nagel, Daniel Dennett, and David Chalmers. Dennett opposes the existence of qualia by arguing that it could be dissolved soon we understand the operations of the mind, whereas Nagel defends the epistemic inaccessibility of subjective experience in the so-called what it is like formulation of that fact. Chalmers highlights the hard problem of consciousness, where materialism cannot explain subjective experience. This analysis explores whether computing architectures can bridge the metaphysical and epistemological gap between information processing and genuine experience.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Epistemology
Ethics
and Metaphysics
Free Will and Agency
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Advances in computational intelligence and robotics book series
- Pages
- 1–20
- Publication date
- 29 January 2026
- Document type
- Book chapter