For anyone who has ever tried to understand what it is to be a human being, the quest for this fundamental kind of knowledge has always been grounded on a few basic, but hidden, assumptions. Foremost among these unquestioned predicates is the existence of the world as a given, a backdrop against which our thoughts and actions are given focus. Rarely in the philosophical literature has anyone questioned this idea, that the world exists whether we are here to experience it or not. This basic, largely unquestioned assumption gives rise to a need for thinkers to explain how consciousness arises...