What's "philosophical backup"? Scientists normally get by without any help from philosophers, so why do they need to get philosophers' imprimatur before they can use the concept of 'consciousness'?
Why doesn't the concept of, say, 'the gene' also need this backup? Or maybe all of those geneticists are also stumbling around in the dark without philosophers to guide them...
The gene does, just as everything else, but we don't ascribe magical properties to the gene which are not readily accessible and coherent with the philosophical context. If you tried to use the gene to define God, then you would have the philosophical disconnect I'm talking about.
Why doesn't the concept of, say, 'the gene' also need this backup? Or maybe all of those geneticists are also stumbling around in the dark without philosophers to guide them...