It strikes me that none of these definitions may get to the heart of what so many of our discussions are about. If you see it that way, please say so, explain, and give your own definition — T Clark
I think that your definitions are fairly good, but I just wonder how the unconscious and subconscious fit into the picture, — Jack Cummins
I am not really sure that I would clearly wish to come up with an overriding definition of consciousness, because it seems like trying to put it into a category. It seems larger than that, — Jack Cummins
Very general words - consciousness, love, meaning - are much harder to define, because they're polysemic, that is, they have different meanings in different contexts. — Wayfarer
The other, related issue is the domain of discourse in which the words are being used. For example, if you study both psychology and philosophy at an undergrad level (which I did) you will find the conception of mind in 'philosophy of mind' (philosophy) and in 'theories of the unconscious' (psychology) may be very different. They will refer to different sources and explore the subjects from different perspectives. They have different background assumptions and different aims in mind. — Wayfarer
The last point, is that I think much of the talk about 'consciousness' has seeped into Western discourse from Eastern sources... And that means at least some of the discussion about consciousness is freighted with (often implicit) references to Asiatic (Hindu/Buddhist) cultural memes. — Wayfarer
I at least want to come up with a meaning that applies to the "hard problem of consciousness" people talk about. — T Clark
What impact does the source of the meaning, e.g. western or eastern, have on the meanings I'm trying to get at here? — T Clark
How is degree of consciousness quantified?
— Pantagruel
I agree with Wayfarer, it's binary not "a matter of degree" like a dimmer. Why think this? I understand things this way:
• pre-awareness = attention (orientation)
• awareness = perception (experience)
• adaptivity = intelligence (optimizing heuristic error-correction)
• self-awareness = [Phenomenal-Self Modeling ~Metzinger]
• awareness of self-awareness = consciousness
Except for the last (sys. 2), every other cognitive modality (sys. 1 (aka "enabling blindspot for sys. 2")) is autonomic and continually manifests a non-zero degree of functioning (thus, quantifiable?); "consciousness", on the hand, is intermittent (i.e. flickering, alter-nating), or interrupted by variable moods, monotony, persistent high stressors, sleep / coma, drug & alcohol intoxication, psychotropics, brain trauma (e.g. PTSD) or psychosis, and so, therefore, is either online (1) or offline (0) frequently – even with variable frequency strongly correlated to different 'conscious-states' – each (baseline) waking-sleep cycle. — 180 Proof
Perhaps it might be useful to talk in terms of what you do or don't agree with or understand about this paper, as that is the one that defined the problem. — Wayfarer
Consciousness is a feature of an entity capable of manipulating its environment. And what determines the form and function of that entity? The successive and cumulative manipulations of its environment. An apparent circularity. — Pantagruel
Something is either conscius or it's not. Birds, bees, humans are conscious - unless they're not - but one is not 'more conscious' than the other. But I'm sure that birds are more intelligent than bees, and humans more than birds. — Wayfarer
I don’t want to discuss consciousness, I want to discuss “consciousness.” — T Clark
The English word "conscious" originally derived from the Latin conscius (con- "together" and scio "to know"), but the Latin word did not have the same meaning as the English word—it meant "knowing with", in other words, "having joint or common knowledge with another" — Google
Awareness - This is word that generally refers to perceptions of the world as a whole rather than our own internal experience. I don’t think it belongs on the list. If you disagree, do it in writing here. — T Clark
Jack: I wonder what it would be like to be a seagull?
Jill: Fantastic, I would imagine. The feeling of swooping through the air, the effortless traversing of long distances. Pecking people, nicking chips. I'd love it.
Jack: I dunno, it might not feel like how you imagine at all. We're very different from seagulls. It's like trying to imagine what it's like to be a snail, we're just too different.
Jill: Maybe, but even though I can't imagine what it is like to be a snail, I reckon there is still something it is like to be a snail, even though I'm not sure what. I think they have nerves don't they?
Jack: Sure. Not like rocks though, there's nothing it's like to be a rock. No nerves or even cells, so they couldn't possibly have experiences.
Jill: Agreed, there's nothing it's like to be a rock. Although some philosophers think there is according to my friend bert1.
Dictionary.com
noun
1) the state of being conscious; awareness of one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc.
2) the thoughts and feelings, collectively, of an individual or of an aggregate of people:
the moral consciousness of a nation.
3) full activity of the mind and senses, as in waking life:
to regain consciousness after fainting.
4) awareness of something for what it is; internal knowledge:
consciousness of wrongdoing.
5) concern, interest, or acute awareness:
class consciousness.
6) the mental activity of which a person is aware as contrasted with unconscious mental processes.
The best answer is to be found in a First Aid course. — Banno
Consciousness
Self-consciousness
Awareness
Self-awareness
Sentience
Mind — T Clark
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