This work explores the hypothesis that subjectively attributed meaning constitutes the phenomenal content of conscious experience. That is, phenomenal content is semantic. This form of subjective meaning manifests as an intrinsic and non-representational character of qualia. Empirically, subjective meaning is ubiquitous in conscious experiences. We point to phenomenological studies that lend evidence to support this. Furthermore, this notion of meaning closely relates to what Frege refers to as "sense", in metaphysics and philosophy of language. It also aligns with Peirce's "interpretant", in semiotics. We discuss how Frege's sense can also be extended to the raw feels of consciousness. Sense and reference both play a role in phenomenal experience. Moreover, within the context of the mind-matter relation, we provide a formalization of subjective meaning associated to one's mental representations. Identifying the precise maps between the physical and mental domains, we argue that syntactic and semantic structures transcend language, and are realized within each of these domains. Formally, meaning is a relational attribute, realized via a map that interprets syntactic structures of a formal system within an appropriate semantic space. The image of this map within the mental domain is what is relevant for experience, and thus comprises the phenomenal content of qualia. We conclude with possible implications this may have for experience-based theories of consciousness.

翻译：本文探讨一种假设，即主观赋予的意义构成了意识体验的现象内容。换言之，现象内容本质上是语义性的。这种主观意义表现为此类感受质所具有的内在且非表征性的特征。实证研究表明，主观意义普遍存在于意识体验之中。我们引用了支持此观点的现象学研究证据。此外，这一意义概念与弗雷格在形而上学与语言哲学中所指的"含义"密切相关，也与皮尔士符号学中的"解释项"相契合。我们论述了弗雷格的"含义"如何可延伸至意识的原始感受层面——含义与指称均在现象体验中发挥作用。在身-心关系语境下，我们对与个体心理表征相关联的主观意义进行了形式化处理。通过识别物理域与心理域之间的精确映射，我们论证句法结构与语义结构超越了语言范畴，并在各域中得以实现。从形式上看，意义是一种关系属性，通过将形式系统的句法结构映射至适当语义空间的解释函项来实现。该映射在心理域中的像与体验直接相关，从而构成感受质的现象内容。最后，我们探讨了这一观点对基于体验的意识理论可能产生的启示。