Consciousness is the state of being awake and aware of one's surroundings. - The Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
I meet from time to time with a small group of smart people to discuss smart stuff. Recently I've been reading articles by and about Daniel Dennett . He's a 74 year old philosopher who teaches at Tufts and is an expert on "Consciousness." So I thought I'd get a handle on Daniel and his consciousness ideas and then present it to my little group.
How hard could it be?
So far (and I will quote my daughter who called me every morning to report her status for 10 days after her baby's birth due date but prior to the actual birth) I got nothin'.
Dr. Daniel Dennett, who is an expert on evolutionary biology, neuroscience, psychology, linguistics and artificial intelligence wrote a book in 1991 called "Consciousness Explained." In it he's given us some explanations but I don't get them. And I'm not alone. Some of his peers called the book "Consciousness Explained Away."
I do know that the "Zombie" problem has to do with living things that don't have minds. Dennett, who I don't think adheres to the Zombie problem, uses an octopus as an example but I guess there could be a number of examples like a farm yard chicken that dances around after its head is cut off. Another example would be a - you know - Zombie!
But, apparently, what it means to be fully conscious, fully awake (or not) is open for discussion.
Dr. Dennett has a philosophical arch-nemesis named David Chalmers. Apparently Dr. Chalmers does believe in the Zombie problem. And he thinks Dennett's ideas are a bunch of hooey. But I'm thinking maybe the feud between the philosophers is designed to entertain us. Sort of like the feud between Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel.
Another altogether different definition of consciousness is Dualism. This has to do with the mind being separate from the body and is a more theological concept. Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon who had an out of body experience after falling into a coma and wrote a book called "Proof of Heaven" had this to say:
The plain fact is that the materialist picture of the body and brain as the producers, rather than the vehicles, of human consciousness, is doomed.
So there you have it. I'm hoping some of you will share your definition of consciousness. But I'd like it to be short and able to be understood by a 6th grader.
Because I think my group of folks who discuss smart stuff can handle this - but we could use some help.
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