%A Max Velmans
%J Behavioral and Brain Sciences
%T Consciousness and the "Causal Paradox"
%X 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.
%N 3
%K psychological complementarity, causality, consciousness, first person, third person, causal paradox, mind, conscious process, perspectival switching, mixed perspective explanations
%P 538-542
%V 19
%D 1996
%I Cambridge University Press
%L cogprints596

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