Consciousness: Ghosts and Ghouls

"A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous and then dismissed as trivial, until finally, it becomes what everybody knows." - William James

I thought it might be fun to look at two works from different philosophers on a similar topic. I also especially chose these for our discussion before Halloween, as William James is heavily associated with ghosts, and David Chalmers is quite famous for the undead. Both of these works will focus on the concept of consciousness, and what exactly is entailed by that word. The first work will focus on defining the concept, the second hopes to tackle the idea of how to spot it in others. The central idea focuses on "what is consciousness?" with fun theming for the holiday.

The first work is "Does 'Consciousness' exist?" by William James, From his broader work, "Essays in Radical Empiricism" in which James lays out the various common arguments for consciousness, settling in a surprising location by questioning the nature of its existence?

The second work by Chalmers, "Zombies and The Explanatory Gap" wants to focus on a very simplistic idea: if everything is just a process of logic or chemical, why do we experience anything at all? Why is it that we are not just robotic machines of flesh?

Could it be these two are asking the same question?

In this Meetup, we will discuss both essays as well as the central question. Links to the respective texts can be found below:

William James, Essays in Radical Empiricism, by William James [ ~39 pages] - Please read the first Essay, "What is Consciousness?"
David Chalmers, Zombies and the Explanatory Gap [2 pages]