Consciousness

Most people would think of consciousness to be their inner thoughts or the awareness one has of themselves and their surroundings. My Introduction to Psychology textbook defines consciousness as,” the subjective experience of perceiving oneself and ones surroundings.” (Kalat, 2011, p.342). According to Oxford dictionary it can be defined in philosophy as “The state or faculty of being conscious, as a condition and concomitant of all thought, feeling, and volition; the recognition by the thinking subject of its own acts or affections” (Schwarz, 2004, p.425). Those are definitions are similar but how can we be sure we have knowledge of what Consciousness is? Epistemology has to deal with the nature of knowledge and if we can have it justifiably without a doubt (Cowan and Spiegel, 2009, p.49) So for the purposes of this paper consciousness is going to be referred to as a belief that can be proved true or proved false, believed in or rejected. This belief of consciousness will be looked at epistemologically in which I will explore it through a skeptical, rational, and empiricist view in attempts to understand whether we are conscious or have knowledge of it.

I said earlier how epistemology asks us if we can really know anything without doubt. Well that “doubt” is called skepticism. Skepticism is the view that we cannot truly know anything or our knowledge is limited (Cowan and Spiegel, 2009, p.50). For example, I could say that I know that my Xbox 360 is in my room right now and when I get home it will be there. However, I do not know that my mom has decided that today will be the day she cleans out each room for spring cleaning. That means she takes my Xbox 360 out of my room and puts in the dining room. Also in the back of my mind o...

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...answer the question separately but the consideration of all three together makes for stronger argument with less limitations.

REFERENCES

1. Kalat, J. W. (2011). Introduction to psychology (9th ed.). Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co..

2. Cowan, S. B., & Spiegel, J. S. (2009). The love of wisdom: a Christian introduction to philosophy / Steven B. Cowan, James S. Spiegel.. Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Academic

3. Schwarz, E. (2010). On the Nature of Consciousness-On Consciousness in Nature. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1303(1), 334-342. doi:10.1063/1.3527171

4. DE BRASI, R., & LARACY, J. R. (2013). An Empirical Critique of Empiricism. Logos: A Journal Of Catholic Thought & Culture, 16(4), 124-163.

5. Winkelman, M. (1996). Neurophenomenology and genetic epistemology as a basis for the study of consciousness. Journal Of Social & Evolutionary Systems, 19(3), 217.