ELSEVIER BRAIN RESEARCH REVIEWS Brain Research Reviews( 26 1998 379-387 How to study consciousness scientifically 1 John R. Searle University of California at Berkeley, Department of Philosophy, 148 Moses Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-2390, USA Keywords: Consciousness; Mind; Brain; Neurobiology Contents Thesis 1 . 380 Thesis 2 . 381 Thesis 3 382 Thesis 4 383 Thesis 5 383 Thesis 6 . 384 Thesis 7 . 385 Thesis 8 385 Thesis 9 386 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 The neurosciences have now advanced to the pointththatelations between consciousness and other mental phe- we can address - and perhaps, in the long run, even molvena on the one hand and the brain on the other. TI - the problem of consciousness as a scientific problesolution to the easy problem can be given with two like any other. However there are a number of philosophieiples: First, consciousness and indeed all mental phe- cal obstacles to this project. The aim of this article nomena are caused by lower level neurobiological pro- address and try to overcome some of those obstadeses in the brain; and, second, consciousness and othe Because the problem of giving an adequate accountneoftal phenomena are higher level features of the brain. I consciousness is a modern descendant of the traditional expounded this solution to the mind-body problem in 'Mind-Body Problem', I will begin with a brief discussion number of writings, so I won't say more about it here of the traditional problem. (See for example 1,2 . The mind-body problem can be divided into two probThe second and more difficult problem is to explain in lems, the first is easy to solve, the second is muchdetaile how it actually works in the brain. Indeed I believe difficult. The first is this: What is the general characterthaft a solution to the second problem would be the most important scientific discovery of the present era. When - and if - it is made it will be an answer to this question: "How exactly do neurobiological processes in the brain 1 Published on the World Wide Web on 24 November 1998. 0165-0173 /98 /$19 00 @ 1998 Elsevier