Consciousness goes away when we sleep or are under anesthesia and comes back when we are awake. Consciousness is not the same as our senses or cognitive functions like memory and thinking, as shown by people who lack senses but are still conscious. Clive Wearing, who loses his memory every 30 seconds, shows that consciousness is not continuous, suggesting it is a momentary state. After removing all senses, functions and self, we are left with a bare nugget of being that is our raw consciousness, the closest we can get to understanding what consciousness truly is.
We cannot directly understand what consciousness is, but we can understand what it is not to get closer to what it is.
Consciousness goes away when we sleep, are under anesthesia, or die, and comes back when we are awake.
Consciousness is not the same as our senses or sensory experiences. People without sight or hearing can still be conscious.
Consciousness is not the same as our cognitive functions like memory, thoughts, emotions, perceptions, reasoning, etc. People with cognitive impairments can still be conscious.
Conditions like agnosia show that specific cognitive functions are separate from consciousness. People with agnosia are still conscious despite not being able to perceive or understand certain things.
Clive Wearing’s case shows that consciousness is not continuous. He loses his memory every 30 seconds and has to “wake up” again, suggesting consciousness is momentary.
After removing all senses, experiences, cognitive functions, and the self, we are left with a “nugget of raw being.” This may be the closest we can get to understanding the essence of consciousness.
We cannot describe this “nugget” of consciousness using our normal faculties since it is beyond feelings, thoughts, and perceptions.
Contemplating the state of total lack of functions may give us a gut sense of what consciousness is.
Approaching the problem from the opposite direction by looking at what we know for sure about consciousness may also help us understand it.
Consciousness goes away when we sleep or are under anesthesia and comes back when we are awake. Consciousness is not the same as our senses or cognitive functions like memory and thinking, as shown by people who lack senses but are still conscious. Clive Wearing, who loses his memory every 30 seconds, shows that consciousness is not continuous, suggesting it is a momentary state. After removing all senses, functions and self, we are left with a bare nugget of being that is our raw consciousness, the closest we can get to understanding what consciousness truly is.
We cannot directly understand what consciousness is, but we can understand what it is not to get closer to what it is.
Consciousness goes away when we sleep, are under anesthesia, or die, and comes back when we are awake.
Consciousness is not the same as our senses or sensory experiences. People without sight or hearing can still be conscious.
Consciousness is not the same as our cognitive functions like memory, thoughts, emotions, perceptions, reasoning, etc. People with cognitive impairments can still be conscious.
Conditions like agnosia show that specific cognitive functions are separate from consciousness. People with agnosia are still conscious despite not being able to perceive or understand certain things.
Clive Wearing’s case shows that consciousness is not continuous. He loses his memory every 30 seconds and has to “wake up” again, suggesting consciousness is momentary.
After removing all senses, experiences, cognitive functions, and the self, we are left with a “nugget of raw being.” This may be the closest we can get to understanding the essence of consciousness.
We cannot describe this “nugget” of consciousness using our normal faculties since it is beyond feelings, thoughts, and perceptions.
Contemplating the state of total lack of functions may give us a gut sense of what consciousness is.
Approaching the problem from the opposite direction by looking at what we know for sure about consciousness may also help us understand it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxQrKSIj6tQ