Understanding Consciousness A Collaborative Attempt to Elucidate Contemporary Theories

Nature Network Groups hosted an invited workshop on ‘Theories of Consciousness’ during the second semester of 2009. There were presentations by each of 15 authors active in the field, followed by debate with other presenters and invitees. A week was allocated to each of the theories proposed; general discussion threads were also opened from time to time, as seemed appropriate. We (who had been participants in the workshop) offer here an account of the principal outcomes. It can be regarded as a contemporary, ‘state of the art’ snapshot of thinking in this field. It should be said straight away that there was little general agreement in the workshop about what constituted the main problems, or how to address them. Explaining consciousness is particularly