Analytic & pragmatist · born 1966 · living
David Chalmers
Australian philosopher who named the “hard problem” of consciousness
Explaining the brain’s functions (the “easy problems”) leaves open why any of it is accompanied by experience at all; since a physical duplicate without experience seems conceivable, consciousness may need new fundamental laws.
Life and thought
David Chalmers (born 1966 in Sydney) studied mathematics in Adelaide and at Oxford before turning to the philosophy of mind, taking his PhD at Indiana University in 1993 in Douglas Hofstadter’s research group. At a conference in Tucson in 1994 he named “the hard problem of consciousness”. He has taught at the Australian National University and is now University Professor at New York University, where he co-directs the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness.
Chalmers separates the “easy problems” of consciousness, explaining how the brain discriminates stimuli, integrates information and reports its states, from the hard problem: why any of this is accompanied by felt experience at all. His zombie argument runs: a being physically identical to you but with no inner experience seems conceivable; if so, the physical facts do not settle the facts of experience, and we may need new fundamental laws linking the two. With Andy Clark he proposed the “extended mind”, and in Reality+ (2022) he argues that virtual worlds can be genuinely real. Dennett called the hard problem an illusion; the debate is unresolved.
Works
Shaped by
born 1937Thomas NagelNYU philosopher who asked what it is like to be a batArgued against
1942–2024Daniel DennettChalmers argues that Dennett’s account explains the functions of consciousness but not experience itself.Meanwhile, in other traditions
1926–1984Michel FoucaultFrench historian of madness, prisons and sexuality1929–2026Jürgen HabermasLeading second-generation Frankfurt theorist of democracy and communication1930–2004Jacques DerridaAlgerian-born French philosopher who founded deconstruction1935–2003Edward SaidPalestinian-American literary critic at Columbia Universityborn 1942Gayatri Chakravorty SpivakIndian-born theorist and translator of Derrida, at Columbia Universityborn 1956Judith ButlerAmerican philosopher at Berkeley, theorist of gender performativityOn the record
David Chalmers is living and teaches at NYU.
Chalmers, born 20 April 1966, is University Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science at New York University and co-director of its Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness; he took his PhD at Indiana University in 1993.
Sources: David Chalmers, curriculum vitae
The atlas gave the Chinese title of Reality+ as 《现实+》, a working translation.
A Chinese edition exists: 《现实+：每个虚拟世界都是一个新的现实》, translated by Xiong Xiang (熊祥) and published by CITIC Press (见识城邦) in December 2022.
Sources: The Paper (澎湃新闻), excerpt with publication details of 《现实+》