The debate between dualism and material reductionism is inherently flawed by one single misconception: that consciousness is a single process, irreducibly defined by a single state. This is not so: consciousness of the human is composed of many elements.
Just because consciousness is reducible does not imply that its elemental building blocks are illusory, material, or epiphenomenal.
The problem lies in using a single word to describe a fluctuating and experientially different concept: all persons' cognitive experiences are different and unique.
More measurable components are memory, language, reflection, will (angular gyrus anyone?), empathy, etc. The interplay of these components gives rise to a usually seamless experience. But when input from one (ie touch) contradicts another (ie memory), the illusion is broken and the sentient being is momentarily introduced to reality.
This is not to suggest that consciousness is of a different materia than the neural connections - but as a flame is not reducible to the components of the wick, neither is the mind reducible to the sodium ion channels, adenosine triphosphate, and action potentials that give rise to it.
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