Consciousness
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Consciousness | |
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| Type | Philosophical and scientific concept |
| Field | Philosophy of mind; Cognitive science; Neuroscience |
| Core idea | Subjective experience and awareness of self and environment |
| Assumptions | Conscious experience is a real phenomenon; it can be investigated conceptually and empirically |
| Status | Actively researched |
| Related | Philosophy of mind; Personal identity; Artificial intelligence; Qualia |
Consciousness refers to the presence of subjective experience, awareness, and the capacity to have experiences that are felt from a first-person perspective. It encompasses phenomena such as perception, sensation, thought, emotion, and self-awareness.
Consciousness is studied across philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and related fields, but its fundamental nature and mechanisms remain subjects of ongoing debate.
Core idea
At its most basic level, consciousness involves what it is like to experience something. This subjective character of experience distinguishes conscious states from unconscious processes.
The existence of consciousness is typically treated as immediately known through experience, even though its explanation poses significant theoretical challenges.
Phenomenal and access consciousness
Philosophers often distinguish between different aspects of consciousness. One common distinction separates phenomenal consciousness, referring to subjective experience itself, from access consciousness, referring to information that is available for reasoning, reporting, and action.
This distinction highlights that not all information processing necessarily involves subjective experience.
Explanatory challenges
A central issue in the study of consciousness is explaining how subjective experience arises from physical or functional processes. This problem is sometimes described as an explanatory gap between objective descriptions of systems and subjective experience.
Debates concern whether this gap reflects a limitation of current theories, a conceptual problem, or a fundamental feature of reality.
Physicalist and non-physicalist views
Approaches to consciousness vary widely. Physicalist accounts attempt to explain consciousness in terms of physical processes, such as neural activity or functional organization. Non-physicalist views hold that consciousness cannot be fully reduced to physical descriptions.
These positions differ in their implications for ontology, explanation, and scientific investigation.
Consciousness and identity
Consciousness plays a key role in discussions of personal identity. Questions about survival, continuity, and responsibility often depend on whether consciousness is preserved, altered, or disrupted over time.
Disruptions of consciousness, such as sleep or anesthesia, raise further questions about persistence and awareness.
Artificial and non-human consciousness
The possibility of consciousness in non-human systems, including animals and artificial systems, is an area of active discussion. Debates focus on whether consciousness depends on biological substrate, functional organization, or other properties.
These issues intersect with research in artificial intelligence and ethics.
Measurement and evidence
Assessing consciousness in others relies on behavioral, neural, and functional indicators. Since subjective experience is not directly observable, evidence is necessarily indirect.
This limitation contributes to persistent disagreement about the scope and distribution of consciousness.
Status
Consciousness remains an unresolved problem spanning multiple disciplines. While empirical research has identified many correlates of conscious experience, no single framework has achieved consensus on its nature or explanation.