Subjective consciousness refers to a state of
consciousness, in which a person is constantly aware of his or her self as well as outside factors. The study of this state has achieved high priority in the modern
philosophy of mind, the
mind-body problem or consciousness studies, as made popular by, e.g.,
David Chalmers. Subjective consciousness refers to the inner, private experience of (mainly) human beings. It is associated with the
qualia made famous by Chalmers et al. This state is not to be confused with objective consciousness or the
neural correlates of consciousness—though this confusion existed for much of the 20th century attendant on the rise of
behaviourism and
positivism and the decline of the interest in
introspection made popular in the 19th and early 20th century by
Edmund Husserl and
William James. The lack of this state, as occasionally implied by
physicalists and their ilk, would raise the question of who is the internal observer, for which all the neural processing takes place. To eliminate this internal observer leads to
infinite regress. The alternative is to accept the observer or
homunculus. This state is also associated with ancient
Hindu studies of the
mind as well as to many modern teachers, such as the
Dalai Lama,
U.G. Krishnamurti or
G.I. Gurdjieff.