The subject of consciousness is among the most vexing in both philosophy and science, and no less tractable in psychology, where the conceptual problems are often neglected. As a “state,” consciousness seems resistant to translation into physical terms and measurements, though its dependence on a healthy nervous system appears to be as close to a “cause-effect” relationship as any in the natural sciences. The aim and scope of these 12 lectures must be modest, for the subject is as vast as that of human and animal awareness. What I hope to convey may be distilled into four main points: First, that consciousness and mental life are sui generis; they are not “like” anything else. They are not like anything that is material or physical and seem to require for their fuller understanding a science not yet available, if ever available. Second, what distinguishes consciousness (and the term presupposes consciousness of something) from all else is its phenomenology—there is something it is like to be “conscious” that is different from all other facts of nature. Third, conscious awareness is a power possessed by the normal percipient, including non-human percipients. This power is such that much that impinges on the sense organs is filtered out and sometimes only the weakest but the most “meaningful” of occurrences gains entrance. Fourth, such powers vary over the course of a lifetime, are subject to disease and defect, and thus, lead to questions of profound ethical consequence. Here, then, is a topic in which science, philosophy, medicine, and ethics are merged, the result being issues at once intriguing and unsettling...
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Great post :blah
Consciousness and Its Implications
Scope:
The subject of consciousness is among the most vexing in both philosophy and science, and no less tractable in psychology, where the conceptual problems are often neglected. As a “state,” consciousness seems resistant to translation into physical terms and measurements, though its dependence on a healthy nervous system appears to be as close to a “cause-effect” relationship as any in the natural sciences.
The aim and scope of these 12 lectures must be modest, for the subject is as vast as that of human and animal awareness. What I hope to convey may be distilled into four main points: First, that consciousness and mental life are sui generis; they are not “like” anything else. They are not like anything that is material or physical and seem to require for their fuller understanding a science not yet available, if ever available. Second, what distinguishes consciousness (and the term presupposes consciousness of something) from all else is its phenomenology—there is something it is like to be “conscious” that is different from all other facts of nature. Third, conscious awareness is a power possessed by the normal percipient, including non-human percipients. This power is such that much that impinges on the sense organs is filtered out and sometimes only the weakest but the most “meaningful” of occurrences gains entrance. Fourth, such powers vary over the course of a lifetime, are subject to disease and defect, and thus, lead to questions of profound ethical consequence.
Here, then, is a topic in which science, philosophy, medicine, and ethics are merged, the result being issues at once intriguing and unsettling...
contact me for the copy of the lectures...
(clapping)
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