Four Meanings of Consciousness and Problems Caused by It for Physicalism

Nature of the mind, mental states, and the relation between these states and body and bodily states are among the oldest and most difficult philosophical problems which have been always focus of philosophical studies concerning the mind (or soul), and philosophical systems, depending on their cosmological foundations, have spoken about them. In the present age and in the contemporary philosophy of mind, these issues are the subject of various physicalist views or views which have adopted somehow materialist approaches. This article seeks to, after a brief mention to the meaning of the term "physicalism", focus on the problems faced by this view. "Conscious states" of our mind, and to put it more precisely some kind of consciousness called "phenomenal consciousness", play a critical role in the objections posed against physicalism. While exploring various meanings of consciousness, the present writing will focus on consciousness in its phenomenal sense and the most important problems caused by it which reject materialism or physicalism, and its main goal is, after describing three classical and important arguments against physicalism, exploration, criticism, and, to some extent, defense of these arguments. In this way, the present writing will emphasize that these three arguments, though they may be defended, merely briefly touch these characteristics.