Elements of Consciousness - Book Report/Review Example

? Elements of Consciousness Elements of Consciousness Even though we use the term consciousness quiet regularity, it is difficult to define it in a particular way because of the complex elements associated with it. Consciousness is an interesting topics not only to the psychologists, but also to the philosophers, medical scientists etc. Psychologists believe that cconsciousness is an experience, awareness, wakefulness or the ability to feel. Some psychologists are of the view that anything that we are aware of at a given particular moment can be termed as consciousness. In medicine, consciousness is assessed based on the alertness and responsiveness to the treatments and medicine. Philosophers believe that consciousness is about something. Within the philosophy of mind, either the psychologists or the philosophers have no consensus on whether intentionality is a requirement for consciousness not. In short, Consciousness is the subject of interest in philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Issues like how the presence of consciousness can be assessed in severely ill or comatose people; whether non-human consciousness exists and if so how it can be measured; at what point in fetal development consciousness begins etc are highly debated topic. This paper briefly analyses the elements of consciousness. Characteristics of consciousness “The physical events and the contents of human mind were inseparable. This linkage forced many researchers to seriously consider consciousness as the integral part of structure of physics”(Hofstadter & Dennett 1985, p.38). Whatever the physical things happened in this world will be stored in the mind or in the memory. In fact majority of the data stored in our mind are related to our life experiences. Beliefs and fantasies may have little space in our mind whereas the life experiences or the physical things happened around us will always be stored in our mind. Physics is the branch of science which deals with the physical things happening in this world and hence many people are of the view that human mind and physics have certain relationships. Hofstadter & Dennett (1985) argued that “it was not possible to formulate the laws of quantum mechanics in a fully consistent way without referencing consciousness” (Hofstadter & Dennett 1985, p.39). Quantum mechanics, is a branch of Physics which assumes that matter has both particle and wave nature. It also proved that both energy and matter are interchangeable. In other words, energy can be converted to matter and matter can be converted to energy. The above quantum mechanical principle is used by many psychologists to solve the brain- mind (consciousness) problem. “Descartes framed the mind body problem in terms of relation between brain and consciousness” (LeDoux, 2002, p.17). As we all know, we can see the brain physically whereas we cannot see the mind or consciousness. We can feel the power of consciousness in our actions even though we cannot see consciousness physically. Same way, we know that energy can perform lot of things even if we are unable to see it. In short, both consciousness and energy are similar in nature as we cannot see both of them even if we can experience the power of these entities in different ways. In short, “the mysteries of quantum mechanics and the mysteries of consciousness are somehow one” (Hofstadter & Dennett 1985, p.42) There are many other similarities between quantum mechanics and consciousness. Both Quantum objects and mental entities or consciousness do not evolve uniformly in time. Moreover, consciousness and quantum objects are not static; it changes from one state another randomly. There are no particular laws needed for making these transitions from one form to another. Both quantum processes and mental processes are internal and invisible. In short, quantum mechanics and consciousness have certain similarities. “The ability to think, the ability to feel and consciousness are different facts of one phenomenon and none of them can be presented without the others” (Hofstadter & Dennett 1985, p.81). In fact consciousness drives the thinking and feeling processes. For example, psychopaths are believed to be mentally disordered people without consciousness. The lack of consciousness will encourage them to perform any brutal activities. In fact such people will never feel any guilty consciousness in their life even after committing serious brutal crimes. On the other hand, even hardcore criminals may feel some kind of guilty consciousness at some stages of their life because of the influence of consciousness. In short, consciousness drives the thinking and feeling abilities of us. In other words, thinking and feeling like entities have no existence without consciousness. “The evolution of the capacity to simulate seems to have culminated in subjective consciousness”(Hofstadter & Dennett 1985, p.141). Consciousness helps us to segregate between the good and evil. Many people are of the view that animals other than human do not have consciousness and that is the reason why they lead an immoral life. Other animals have no guilty consciousness in any of their activities because of the absence of consciousness. There are animals which eat their own offspring. It is quite possible that an animal engage in sexual intercourse with its offspring. In other words, consciousness is what prevents us from performing immoral or illegal things. “Descartes equated the soul with consciousness and said only human have conscious control over their behaviour” (LeDoux, 2002, p.16). All states of consciousness contain the same elements. The difference in the quality of these states arises from the quantity of one element of consciousness, for instance the elements of thinking occupy a larger place than those of feeling. Knowing the elements and their combinations that make up the various states of consciousness is vital. We may isolate and analyze any single experience to learn just what factors of the mind are most prominent (Boyd, n. d) Our activities can be classified into two broad categories; conscious and unconscious. Activities which are performed under normal circumstances can be considered as conscious activities whereas the activities performed while sleeping or under the influence of alcohol or drug can be considered as unconscious activities. Consciousness includes sensations, thoughts and representations whereas will include impulse purpose and resolve. Both consciousness and will together constitutes the conscious sides of our life. According to Ramachandran (2004), “consciousness is a vision which helps us to recognize objects” (Ramachandran, 2004, p.28). It is impossible for a person in an unconscious state to recognize objects. In other words, consciousness makes us capable of analysing the objects and things happened around us logically. In other words, in the absence of consciousness, we may not have control over any of our activities. It is because of the above fact that a person in coma stage performs his daily activities without giving any prior information to others around him. It is quite possible that a mental patient may attack his relatives because of his inability to identify who is his friend or relative and who is his enemy. In other words, “Consciousness can inject love and pain”(Ramachandran, 2004, p.58). A person may behave indifferently under the influence of alcohol or drug. This is also because of the temporary loss of consciousness. In short, “loss of consciousness can cause mental disorders (Ramachandran, 2004, p.84). At the same time mental disorders can also destroy the consciousness. In short, mental disorders and unconsciousness are inseparable. “Psychologists believe that some aspects of mental life occur unconsciously” (LeDoux, 2002, p.27). Even in our normal life some of our mental activities occur without our prior knowledge. Some of our mental activities are preconditioned. For example, a person who go to bed at 10 pm regularly may feel sleepiness every day around 10 pm. Same way person who has a habit of taking alcohol before taking the dinner may feel agony if he fails to take it in one evening. In other words, some of our mental activities are beyond the control of our conscious mind. This is because of the fact that “most of the brain systems are plastic and work outside of consciousness” (LeDoux, 2002, p.28). “Cognition and consciousness are not the same” (LeDoux, 2002, p.191). Many people are of the view that cognition and consciousness are the same. But both are entirely different phenomena even though they have some connections. It is not necessary that two people visualize a thing in the same manner. For example, stroking a sixer in a cricket match can be easy for a batsman whereas same thing may not be easy for a bowler. In other words when the need of quick runs arises, a proper batsman may think in terms of sixers whereas a bowler may try to take singles. Here, even though the problem remains the same, the batsman and bowler thought differently because of their consciousness about their abilities. In other words, same problem can be perceived differently by different persons because of the differences in the levels of consciousness or self awareness. “Consciousness is one thing which divides us from our fellow creatures”(LeDoux, 2002, p.197). A physically handicapped person will never keep a dream of conquering the Mount Everest. Same way we cannot think of a world in which other creatures or animals may speak to us or communicate with us in our own language. In all these cases, our consciousness prevented us from dreaming impossible things. The consciousness of contact arises when one of the five sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue, or body) comes into contact with one of the five sense objects (what we see, hear, smell, taste, or touch). When sense organs come into contact with sense objects, the consciousness of contact arises. These are the first five kinds of consciousness and they are operative every day of our lives, so long as we are awake and functioning. When we fall asleep, the five consciousnesses no longer function (Sheng-yen, 1987) In short our senses are controlling our consciousness. If any of the senses gone out of order, our consciousness will be affected. For example, if our eyes stop functioning, we cannot watch a movie effectively and judge the theme correctly even if we are able to hear the dialogues in that movie. Same way, even if we are able to watch the beauty of a food, we cannot enjoy its taste, if our tongue losses its sensation. In other words, the combined efforts of our senses made us capable of taking conscious decisions. In short, senses are the most vital elements of consciousness even though brain or intelligence helps us to process the information fed by the senses. References 1. Boyd T.P (n.d). The Mental Highway Elements of consciousness. Retrieved from http://www.psitek.net/pages/PsiTek-the-mental-highway-5.html 2. Hofstadter D & Dennett D.C. (1985). Daniel C. Dennett (Author) › Visit Amazon's Daniel C. Dennett Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central The Mind's I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul. Publisher: Bantam (April 1, 1985) 3. LeDoux, J. (2002). Synaptic Self: How our brains become who we are. Publisher: Viking Adult (January 10, 2002) 4. Ramachandran V.S. (2004). A Brief Tour of the Human Consciousness. Publisher: Pi Press; illustrated edition edition (July 23, 2004) 5. Sheng-yen, (1987). The Elements of Consciousness Retrieved from http://www.chan1.org/ddp/channews/12-1987.html Read More