Archives - Consciousness: Page 7
Author: amparo enriquez (Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:13 am)
Title: Consciousness
The most obvious feature of the brain is that it is not homogenous, but composed of different regions. There are no intrinsic moving parts, no obvious way of knowing where to start to understand what is actually happening, or what functions are taking place. Some scientists who are interested in consciousness have nonetheless looked at the workings of different brain regions, and if they found some novel mechanism they have then effectively said: ‘Aha! This is a novel mechanism not found before. Consciousness is novel. Therefore, one must relate to the other.’ Although, by following this path, one might be acting as good scientist and looking at different aspects of the way the brain is functioning one would nonetheless be ignoring, and this is why philosophers are often so dismissive of scientific’ approaches, so called ‘qualia’, the feel of the first-person experience to you.
Susan Greenfield