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Consciousness explained essays
Consciousness explained essays
Consciousness explained essays
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The word consciousness is used in a variety of contexts. The most common use of the word 'consciousness' refers to the physical implication or physical effects when the mind is in the state of consciousness in the most simplest form. However when seen in a rigorous manner, consciousness is hard to explain and even harder to categorize from non consciousness or the state in which the mind is not conscious. However almost all the theories of philosophy are somewhat based on the assumption that the mind is in a conscious state. And hence studying how does the existence of consciousness occur in reality and how can it be predicted becomes an important question.
Study of the state of consciousness of mind has been the center of philosophical questions.
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Consciousness is not a term which could be well defined by science but a property of mind which can only be felt individually but sometimes observed by a third person. It is a state of mind. The existence of consciousness can be debated through questions such as (a)What is consciousness? (b)How does consciousness exist (in what form)? (c) Why does consciousness exist? What is the purpose of existence of consciousness if it exists? Our aim is not to definitively answer these questions but find ways to debate the existence of consciousness …show more content…
Thus the way in which consciousness exists in a mind is based on the effect of its existence. The effect might be on its surrounding or even non-perceivable effects However given that each aspect of the existence of consciousness requires a first person and a third person perspective and also some nonperceivable aspects, it is difficult to obtain an exact purpose in order to find how the consciousness exists in that subject. One way of looking at it is that when this explainatory gap cannot be bridged by any means, the nonexistence of consciousness can be sustained. However ignoring these unbridgability of explainatory gaps, one can also debate on the possible ways of how consciousness can exist. While the former way of explaining how consciousness exists in the reductive way, the latter is a non reductive way of debating over the same. Non-reductive way includes the concept of intuition or subjective facts rather than the objective facts allowing those facts which are intuitive to human brain but cannot be expressed otherwise physically. Hence the existence of consciousness can be ultimately debated using any of the theories to explain how it can exist considering it exists. If no possible way is found for the consciousness to exist given the situation and the subjective and objective information, the existence of consciousness in that case can be disproved. Hence once again different
Chapter 4 discusses the several states of consciousness: the nature of consciousness, sleep and dreams, psychoactive drugs, hypnosis, and meditation. Consciousness is a crucial part of human experience, it represents that private inner mind where we think, feel, plan, wish, pray, omagine, and quietly relive experiences. William James described the mind as a stream of consciousness, a continuous flow of changing sensations, images thoughts, and feelings. Consciousness has two major parts: awareness and arousal. Awareness includes the awareness of the self and thoughts about one's experiences. Arousal is the physiological state of being engaged with the environment. Theory of mind refers to individuals understanding that they and others think,
There is almost no doubt that there is a relationship between psychology and philosophy. Indeed, many people actually considering that the philosophies related to and concerned with the mind and thought are the precursor to modern psychology. Of course, most of these philosophies were decidedly western, or popular in the west. However, the problem with our western views of consciousness in philosophy and psychology is that often times the way we view the conscious process leads to a so-called "infinite regression." That is to say, if we see consciousness as a set of rules guiding our experiences in life, there must also be another set of rules that defines how we know when to use those rules, and so on and so forth. (Kurak 2001, 18-19). In this paper, I will attempt to show how we can turn to Buddhist principles to help us gain a better understanding of human consciousness.
In this term paper, I have tried to tackle the metaphysical issues of consciousness by first defining consciousness and doing a thorough study about the term. Then I proceeded to the metaphysical aspects of consciousness, examining and understanding them.
I will commence by defining what makes a mental state conscious. This will be done aiming to distinguish what type of state we are addressing when we speak of a mental phenomenon and how is it, that can have a plausible explanation. By taking this first approach, we are able to build a base for our main argument to be clear enough and so that we can remain committed to.
This problem is a modern version of the mind/body problem; i.e. what is the relationship between the mind and the body? Are they separate entities, or are they somehow different aspects of the same thing? The question was posed in Nagel's 1974 essay 'What Is It Like to Be a Bat?' and has been somewhat revitalised recently in the guise of Chalmers's 'hard problem' of consciousness (Chalmers, 1995).
Renner, T., Feldman, R., Majors, M., Morrissey, J., & Mae, L. (2011). States of Consciousness. Psychsmart (pp. 99-107). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Consciousness is a concept that is socially constructed to define a real, yet abstract phenomenon. The point of defining consciousness, in Combs words, is to take an metaphysical idea, something that can not be understood directly in itself, and turn it into an object for humans to understand from a concrete perspective. For the purpose of this paper, the type of consciousness that will mostly be discussed can be described as having consciousness, an adverb that is understood as an experience, not solely the state of being alive (Walden. Lecture. 8/24/16). To define consciousness in words does not do it justice, as it is comprised of the intangible and feelings. Yet, consciousness directly effects the physical world. According to *** , the meaning of consciousness arises in
1. Jaynes (1976) believed that consciousness came from the different functions of the hemispheres of the brain.
Johnstone, M., Primmer, J. (2014). [Lecture]. The Mind-Body Problem. PHILOS 1E03, Problems of Philosophy. Hamilton, ON, Canada: McMaster University.
"Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness." Encyclopedia of Consciousness. Oxford: Elsevier Science & Technology, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 26 April 2011.
The mind is a very interesting phenomena, it is something that we know exists in a basic sense, but there are just some things that we cannot know about the mind, for example, we know that the mind is directly tied to the brain, but we do not know whether the brain is a spiritual entity that controls the brain, or if the brain creates what we call the mind, which embodies our conscience. this, in a basic sense is a start to the problem to be discussed, the mind-body problem is the challenge of explaining how mental states such as thoughts and other mental processes relate to the physical worlds events states and processes, since the body and mind operate on two completely different planes; the physical and non-physical. This is known as the mind-body problem, which is a crucial problem understand in
While the great philosophical distinction between mind and body in western thought can be traced to the Greeks, it is to the influential work of René Descartes, French mathematician, philosopher, and physiologist, that we owe the first systematic account of the mind/body relationship. As the 19th century progressed, the problem of the relationship of mind to brain became ever more pressing.
The states of consciousness is a state of mind and is unique to each person. As we are trying to understand the enigma of consciousness and how does ascend? I think is important to understand our one awareness and ourselves with in our surroundings. When it comes to belief one aspect of it is a constant awareness of God existence. In our daily life the idea of religion consciousness is somehow conception, it hasn’t been in you but when it b...
“Consciousness is defined as everything of which we are aware at any given time - our thoughts, feelings, sensations, and perceptions of the external environment. Physiological researchers have returned to the study of consciousness, in examining physiological rhythms, sleep, and altered states of consciousness (changes in awareness produced by sleep, meditation, hypnosis, and drugs)” (Wood, 2011, 169). There are five levels of consciousness; Conscious (sensing, perceiving, and choosing), Preconscious (memories that we can access), Unconscious ( memories that we can not access), Non-conscious ( bodily functions without sensation), and Subconscious ( “inner child,” self image formed in early childhood).
The Conscious domain of the psyche is really a small fraction of it. Consciousness is what is necessary to give attention to the contents of the world around us as well as the domain of the unconscious contents, inside us. It also what is necessary to help regulate and coordinate the interactions of these various contents