Despite decades of theoretization, consciousness continues to haunt contemporary philosophy of mind. The coherence and validity of the concept are in question, yet consciousness seems to resist the projects of reduction and naturalization. This collection opens a diachronical perspective to intuitions about consciousness and our aspiration of coming to grips with it. Through investigating ancient, medieval, early modern, and modern discussions in their original philosophical context, the articles offer understanding of the emergence of our problems concerning consciousness, as well as a wealth of alternative ways of conceptualizing it.

The first historical survey focusing on the notion of consciousness

Ancient And Arabic Philosophy.- On Plato's Lack of Consciousness.- The Problem of Consciousness in Aristotle's Psychology.- Ownness of Conscious Experience in Ancient Philosophy.- Sense-Perception and Self-Awareness: Before and After Avicenna.- Medieval Philosophy And Early Modern Thought.- Intention and Presence: The Notion of Presentialitas in the Fourteenth Century.- The Structure of Self-Consciousness: A Fourteenth-Century Debate.- Augustine and Descartes on the Function of Attention in Perceptual Awareness.- Orders of Consciousness and Forms of Reflexivity in Descartes.- The Status of Consciousness in Spinoza's Concept of Mind.- From Kant To Contemporary Discussions.- Human Consciousness and its Transcendental Conditions: Kant's Anti-Cartesian Revolt.- The Living Consciousness of the German Idealists.- The Heidelberg School and the Limits of Reflection.- Contemporary Naturalism and the Concept of Consciousness.- Selfhood, Consciousness, and Embodiment: A Husserlian Approach.