The Nature of Consciousness

In Western society over recent history, it seems as though consciousness is not the kind of thing that a mere material system could have or generate. Descartes divided the universe into matter stuff and res cogitans - the stuff of thought and the stuff of consciousness. The fact that it doesn't seem to be property of the material doesn't mean that it isn't. But I worry how reliable our intuitions are about this. They failed us in the past in these kinds of questions. So my overall strategy is to basically recognize that and let's try and learn as much as we can about the nature of consciousness through the study of the brain and the body and the world.