Synopsis Consciousness is a particularly unified phenomenon which has of late drawn the attention of scholars of different disciplines all over world. But the opinions of these scholars are so varied that it is very difficult to have any kind of consensus though everyone, perhaps, feels the urgency of exploring this mystery. The institute presented an international seminar on the subject Philosophy and Science: an Exploratory Approach to Consciousness on 8th and 9th February 2002. The seminar was inaugurated by swami Ranganathananda, President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, and Prof. Karl H. Pribarm, Professor Emeritus, standford University, gave the keynote address of the inaugural session. This was followed by four academic sessions on two days and the valedictory session. The main feature of the valedictory session was a panel discussion among five scholars with Prof. J.N. Mohanty of Temple University, Philadelphia, as the co-ordinator. In all, 26 scholars from different parts of India as also from outside the country participated. In the academic sessions, each scholar presented a 20 minute paper, followed by a discussion for another 25 min. this volume contains the papers presented by the participants in the seminar, along with salient portions of the question and answer sessions.