Archives - Consciousness: Page 22
Author: Beverly Bennet (Tue Nov 01, 2005 1:52 am)
Title: consciousness
The most fundamental characteristic of human beings is "consciousness." As far as we know, we are the only conscious beings in the universe. It is possible that there are, or will be, other conscious organisms or entities in the universe. However, we have no way of knowing that now. It is self-awareness, or consciousness, or mind that makes us unique.
What is consciousness?
We tend to think of the mind as akin to a refrigerator in the brain where we keep memories, hopes, ambitions, fantasies, and so on "on ice," or in storage, for when we need them -- like frozen hamburgers in case friends come over for a barbecue. It appears that consciousness is not like that at all, but is always "of" something. It is impossible to think of consciousness apart from its contents, in other words, which gives those contents a kind of ontological status.
Do the contents of consciousness always exist? The literature on this issue is voluminous and the matter remains unresolved.
The discussion of these issues dates at least from the Middle Ages, that is, in terms of the ontological issue. ("Ontology" is the study of what "is" or the "science of being.") During the medieval era, theologians came up with proofs for the existence of God merely on the basis of the human capacity to think or "conceive" of the concept of God.
There were debates lasting for millennia over whether my thinking of a unicorn means that the unicorn "is" or "exists," in some sense, as an "object of consciousness." These debates are by no means resolved, just think of fictional characters: Santa Claus, Sherlock Holmes, or Daisy Dukes. Are they "existing entities"? For those who are highly curious about these issues, a good place to start is with Bertrand Russell's argument concerning "golden mountains" and whether the non-existent "king of France" is bald. There are realist, idealist, nominalist, pragmatist and skeptical answers to these questions.
Although an answer to the problem of consciousness has not been found present research is most poignant and important in the field of the neurosciences. Is in this field where the mind-body problem is supposed to be resolved.