Consciousness, and related notions like sentience and self-awareness, denote the capacity of certain organisms to express recognition of their own presence in the world.
Questions tagged [consciousness]
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What is hard about the “hard problem of consciousness”?
By the “hard problem”, I’m referring to the exposition by David Chalmers.
He phrased the hard problem as “why objective, mechanical processing can give rise to subjective experiences.” I find it difficult to think of this as hard.
Imagine the…
J Li
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Is it the job of physics to explain consciousness?
Is explaining consciousness in the realm of physics?
Detailed question:
We know that consciousness exists. Or rather, I know that I have it. The rest of you may not be conscious, but I know that I am, so it exists. Since it's the job of physics to…
Bhagwad Jal Park
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What consciousness theory refers to all of us being the same observing entity?
Recently I ran across this amusing but thought provoking CGI video supposedly by Zak Field (can't find the original page, so apologies for the Facebook link).
In it, the "alien" being questioned refers to "so called life":
Death is a human…
ShrewdSimian
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Why do epiphenomenalists believe that consciousness exists?
Epiphenomenalists believe that consciousness exists but has no effect on the physical world. Why do they believe that consciousness exists? It would be a phenomenon completely unlike anything else in the world, but since it has no effect on the…
Richard Stanley
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Can consciousness simply be a brute fact connected to some physical processes that don’t need explanation?
Suppose we mapped every possible conscious process or experience to a specific physical process. This, still, in many anti physicalist eyes, will not solve the hard problem of consciousness. It would arguably not explain why the experience is…
user62907
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In a view that consciousness is illusion, what does statement "I am conscious" mean?
Is it also in the view that it is illusion that I am conscious?
Is it possible that one is in illusion that he is conscious, but actually he is not conscious?
Can consciousness be illusion as some philosopher, in more details hold a position, and…
Hare Krishna
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Why is it that the hard problem of consciousness appear hard?
Most of us are physicalists now meaning that most agree that nature is all that is the case and that there are no super-natural phenomena. Given that this is so then consciousness (no matter how it feels otherwise subjectively) must be explainable…
igravious
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Is it truly necessary to upgrade Tononi's criteria of consciousness in the Integrated Information theory?
I am referring specifically to a very recent paper by Max Tegmark, http://arxiv.org/abs/1401.1219
In this paper he proposes 3 more criteria (independence, dynamics, and utility principle) in addition to Tononi's original criteria (information and…
pcr
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What's the importance of self-awareness?
Philosophers such as Singer emphasize self-awareness as essential to consciousness and somehow related to an individual's moral value.
These perspectives don't make a lot of sense to me.
Self-awareness is only a particular kind of…
causative
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Does Neural Complexity Have Anything To Do With Consciousness?
I am quoting here something from George Stuart Fullerton's An Introduction To Philosophy. Here, he is toying with the argument made by W.K. Clifford.
We must assume that consciousness is a complex of elementary feelings, "or rather of those remoter…
Sampark Sharma
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Does being able to remember conscious experience mean consciousness cannot be an epiphenomenon?
It has been proposed (or maybe just speculated) by a number of philosophers and scientists, including Richard Dawkins, that consciousness might be an epiphenomenon, but I think this cannot be the case.
According to Merriam-Webster's definition, an…
JohnRC
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Can science account for consciousness
Looking at the mind and body it can presumably all be accounted for with physics and chemistry each activity happening purely as a result of the previous state just like as machines work (making free will look quite questionable).
It confuses me…
Ira Watt
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Concerning the first self-aware human
I hope I am asking these in the right SE. Please direct me to the right one if it isn't and correct any false assumptions my question may be based on.
Was there a specific moment when the first sufficiently advanced primate realized that he is no…
demiters
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What exactly is identity theory?
On the discussion related to the question here, there seemed to be many disagreements between users in regards to identity theory and its implications on whether psychophysical harmony needs explanation.
As a refresher,
Psychophysical harmony…
Baby_philosopher
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What do people who say consciousness is an illusion mean?
What do people who say consciousness is an illusion actually mean by that statement? Are they denying that consciousness exists, or are they claiming it exists but that it is an illusion? And anyway, isn't an illusion something that happens in…
user107952
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