Mind: A Brief Introduction (John R. Searle) / quote 90 of 138
Consciousness as a system-level biological feature
The worst mistake is to suppose that the common-sense distinction between mental states naïvely construed and physical states naïvely construed is an expression of some deep metaphysical distinction. On the view that I am presenting, it is not. Consciousness is a system-level, biological feature in much the same way that digestion, or growth, or the secretion of bile are system level, biological features. As such, consciousness is a feature of the brain and thus a part of the physical world. The tradition that I am militating against says that because mental states are intrinsically mental, they cannot be in that very respect, physical.