Title: "Post-Modern Metaphysical Assumptions in Consciousness Theories"

In this collection we present investigations on the relations of biological processes and the mind, covering a series of topics of interest for the Metaphysics of Consciousness.

Metaphysical issues arise in Consciousness Theory from two sources of investigation:

- Qualitative subjective experiences and related contents, called "Qualia";

- The capacity, found in living systems, to experience these qualities. This capacity has been called Sentience.

On the Qualia issues, we investigate possible relations with the Aristotelian concept of Form. Are qualia Aristotelian Forms viewed from the first person perspective of conscious systems? What is the relation between the experience of qualia and the conscious person connecting with the Being of reality? Heidegger, in the book Principle of Reason, states very clearly that the connection of the Dasein with the Being of reality happens when we have qualitative experiences, as smelling a flower, but does not happen in scientific and technical (causal and manipulative) approaches. This conception contradicts Ephiphenomenalism, the thesis that qualia are not related to the Being of reality.

On the Sentience issues, we would like to investigate the relation between this capacity and biological processes, taking into consideration the recently discovered variety of neural systems and their endosymbiotic interactions with the body's microbiota. These interactions have been found to be at the genesis of several mental disorders, but our focus is on their contribution to conscious qualitative experiences, requiring metaphysical investigations about the connection between human and microbiological sentience. Bacteria and fungi, which appeared before our species in the evolution of the Cosmos, may be at the origin of the conscious minds of macrobiological systems as human persons.

Both issues lead to the controversial thesis that the access to the Being of reality is afforded by qualitative first-person experiences based on our biological functional structures. The access to the metaphysical Being is neither by means of scientific theories or other modalities of representation of the Being of reality (metaphors, models, symbols), nor by means of their technical implementation in artifacts. How to relate the "Direct Realism" of J. J. Gibson, or the "Perceptual Projection" of Max Velmans with Heidegger's philosophy?

A final question should be raised, about technologies that expand our ways of sentience, such as the computer, the cell phone and the Internet, resulting on a new domain of virtual realities. How do these technologies impact on sentience? How do actions based on these technologies reformat our perception of the Being of reality? Should we correct Heidegger on his denial of technical improvements as a pathway to reconnect ourselves with the Being of reality?

Consciousness; Mind; Qualia; Aristotelian Forms; Sentience; Microbioma; Evolution of Consciousness; First-Person Perspective; Being of Reality; Virtual Reality; Technoscience and Human Experience.