Investigator: Mgr. Jakub Mihálik, Ph.D.

Provider: Czech Science Foundation

Duration: 2025-2027

The aim of the project is to contribute to the debate on phenomenal consciousness within the philosophy of mind. Consciousness is understood here as an organism’s capacity to experience or undergo various mental states. While philosophers have traditionally focused on the qualitative character of experience, this project will concentrate on how a subject becomes aware of such experiences—meaning that these states are marked by a subjective character.

Ambiguities surrounding the possibility of a reductive explanation of this subjectivity pose a significant challenge to leading monist theories, such as physicalism and Russellian monism. The project systematically addresses this “problem of subjectivity.” It will draw on both contemporary and historical approaches in an effort to overcome the limitations of individual philosophical schools. The main goal is to examine whether and how these theories can account for the fact that conscious states exist for their subject.