George Herbert Mead on consciousness: antidote to Cartesian absurdities?

The article explicates George Herbert Mead's theory of consciousness as presented in Mind, Self and Society. According to Mead, the term consciousness may refer to three different sets of phenomena: (1) the environment as implied by our goal-directed action; Mead names this consciousness aspect experience; it is shared by humans and subhuman animals alike; (2) consciousness of environmental experience; Mead names this consciousness aspect awareness; it is exclusively human; (3) the peculiar sensed qualities attaching to consciousness, equalling what is today named qualia.

Descartes-inspired psychology makes the third consciousness aspect all-important. Within Mead's framework for a darwinistically inspired psycholgy, it becomes theoretically insignificant.