“Pure Consciousness” Research and Its “Hard Problem” and “Easy Problem”

In the direction of consciousness research and theories of consciousness,there is currently less or more collaborative research being conducted in three separate and fundamental disciplines: neuroscience,information science,and the phenomenology of consciousness.This collaborative research is based on three definitions of consciousness in today’s research community: (1) neural-related mechanisms (quasi-consciousness); (2) information (like-consciousness); and (3) the subjective experience or inner world of the individual (pure-consciousness).They constitute an irreducible trinity that cannot be further reduced,and furthermore lead to the Trinitarian positions,perspectives,and methods that are now clearly visible in the field of consciousness research.Because of this,the work of these three disciplines is not interchangeable.In the study of pure consciousness,the problems that need to be dealt with in intentional correlational terminology are easy ones,whereas the problems that need to be dealt with in intentional activism are hard ones.The hard problems here are hard because intentional activism has to deal with a process of constructing consciousness that continues to emerge,flow,change and disappear.Phenomenological emergent analysis in reflection requires the direct grasping and accessing of the emergent and structural laws of this activity in the conduct of conscious activity.The study of pure-consciousness forms the basis for the study of quasi-consciousness and the study of like-consciousness,but it is limited and cannot replace other ways of studying consciousness.