Consciousness: Difference between revisions
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'''Consciousness''' is variously defined as subjective experience, awareness, alertness, wakefulness, and the ability to experience "feeling". It is an umbrella term that may refer to a variety of mental phenomena. Consciousness is a phenomenon which arises at the intersection of nature and culture. At the core it is a biological phenomenon. According to Searle (2002), it is simply a "feature of the brain": "consciousness is a state that the brain is in". | '''Consciousness''' is variously defined as subjective experience, awareness, alertness, wakefulness, and the ability to experience "feeling". It is an umbrella term that may refer to a variety of mental phenomena. Consciousness is a phenomenon which arises at the intersection of nature and culture. At the core it is a biological phenomenon. According to Searle (2002), it is simply a "feature of the brain": "consciousness is a state that the brain is in". | ||
Consciousness as two major components, | Consciousness as two major components. While phenomenal consciousness describes what only this particular individual in question feels right now, public accessible consciousness describes what all individuals of a group have in common: | ||
* the private component is associated with the '''phenomenal consciousness''' which derives from subjective experience that can not be shared with others. It is based on the concrete feelings and specific sensations that can not be explained to others. Phenomenal consciousness is responsible for the explanatory gap and the [[Hard_problem_of_consciousness|hard problem of consciousness]] (Chalmers 1996). | * the private component is associated with the '''phenomenal consciousness''' which derives from subjective experience that can not be shared with others. It is based on the concrete feelings and specific sensations that can not be explained to others. Phenomenal consciousness is responsible for the explanatory gap and the [[Hard_problem_of_consciousness|hard problem of consciousness]] (Chalmers 1996). | ||
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== Phenomenal consciousness == | == Phenomenal consciousness == | ||
Phenomenal consciousness characterizes the qualitative character of conscious experience. There is an endless variety of subjective experience and phenomenal consciousness, just as there is an endless variety of individuals and persons. See the [[Hard_problem_of_consciousness|hard problem of consciousness]]. | Phenomenal consciousness characterizes the qualitative character of conscious experience. There is an endless variety of subjective experience and phenomenal consciousness, just as there is an endless variety of individuals and persons. Private, phenomenal consciousness is based on the cumulative public experience of a person. It is [[Path_Dependence|path-dependent]] and varies from person to person, because each person has a different history and is adapted to a slighty different world. | ||
See the [[Hard_problem_of_consciousness|hard problem of consciousness]]. | |||
== Books == | == Books == | ||
Revision as of 15:59, 5 March 2011
Consciousness is variously defined as subjective experience, awareness, alertness, wakefulness, and the ability to experience "feeling". It is an umbrella term that may refer to a variety of mental phenomena. Consciousness is a phenomenon which arises at the intersection of nature and culture. At the core it is a biological phenomenon. According to Searle (2002), it is simply a "feature of the brain": "consciousness is a state that the brain is in".
Consciousness as two major components. While phenomenal consciousness describes what only this particular individual in question feels right now, public accessible consciousness describes what all individuals of a group have in common:
- the private component is associated with the phenomenal consciousness which derives from subjective experience that can not be shared with others. It is based on the concrete feelings and specific sensations that can not be explained to others. Phenomenal consciousness is responsible for the explanatory gap and the hard problem of consciousness (Chalmers 1996).
- the public, accessible component which is associated with the common understanding which derives from shared objective knowledge, i.e. from things which can be shared with others. It is also called access consciousness, because it is based on abstract informations, logical relations and mental representations that can be accessed by and explained to others.
Phenomenal consciousness
Phenomenal consciousness characterizes the qualitative character of conscious experience. There is an endless variety of subjective experience and phenomenal consciousness, just as there is an endless variety of individuals and persons. Private, phenomenal consciousness is based on the cumulative public experience of a person. It is path-dependent and varies from person to person, because each person has a different history and is adapted to a slighty different world.
See the hard problem of consciousness.
Books
- David J. Chalmers, The Conscious Mind, Oxford University Press, 1996
- Uriah Kriegel, Subjective Consciousness: A Self-Representational Theory, Oxford University Press, 2009
- Joseph Levine, Purple Haze: The Puzzle of Consciousness, Oxford University Press, 2001
- John Searle, Consciousness and Language, Cambridge University Press, 2002
Links
- Wikipedia link to the Consciousness
