@misc{cogprints596, volume = {19}, number = {3}, author = {Max Velmans}, title = {Consciousness and the "Causal Paradox"}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, journal = {Behavioral and Brain Sciences}, pages = {538--542}, year = {1996}, keywords = {psychological complementarity, causality, consciousness, first person, third person, causal paradox, mind, conscious process, perspectival switching, mixed perspective explanations}, url = {http://cogprints.org/596/}, abstract = {Viewed from a first-person perspective consciousness appears to be necessary for complex, novel human activity - but viewed from a third-person perspective consciousness appears to play no role in the activity of brains, producing a "causal paradox". To resolve this paradox one needs to distinguish consciousness of processing from consciousness accompanying processing or causing processing. Accounts of consciousness/brain causal interactions switch between first- and third-person perspectives. However, epistemically, the differences between first- and third-person access are fundamental. First- and third-person accounts are complementary and mutually irreducible.} }