The Final Puzzle: How Dennett’s Theory Dissolves the Mysteries of Qualia and the Self

The 'hard problem' of consciousness — explaining qualia and the self — has long resisted scientific explanation. Daniel Dennett provides a refreshing perspective: these puzzles arise from failures of imagination and entrenched conceptual habits.

Qualia, the vivid qualities of experience, are not intrinsic, ineffable properties but brain-generated illusions. The self, rather than a fixed entity, is a 'center of narrative gravity' — a useful fiction created by the brain’s storytelling processes.

By expanding how we think about consciousness, these paradoxes dissolve, leaving a clear, hopeful understanding of the mind as a natural phenomenon. This view encourages continued scientific and philosophical exploration without mysticism or despair.

For further reading, explore critical discussions on qualia and self in philosophical and scientific literature linked in the previously mentioned blogs.