Symbolon x MoC7 #3 - Paul G. Skokowski : Accounting for Qualia in the Natural World

Abstract Explaining qualia in physical terms is what is often called the “hard problem” of consciousness. This talk addresses the qualia of sensation through sensory naturalism, the thesis that our senses are detectors of physical properties in the world. This view challenges the common assumption that qualia can be understood by studying only the brain or computational mechanisms. The talk shows how the theory keeps multiple realization, and considers what it implies for whether artificial systems could have sensory experiences. It draws on his recent book Sensing Qualia: Solving the Hard Problem of Consciousness (University of Chicago Press, 2026). Paul G. Skokowski is a philosopher and cognitive scientist. He teaches in the Symbolic Systems Program at Stanford University, where he is also Executive Director and co-founder of the Center for the Explanation of Consciousness, and he is a Fellow in Philosophy at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford. His work focuses on how sensory experience can be explained within the physical sciences. His most recent book is Sensing Qualia: Solving the Hard Problem of Consciousness (University of Chicago Press, 2026).