Understanding Of Human Consciousness Research Articles

Опыт повседневности и проблема онтолого-эпистемологического статуса структур научной рациональности

The experience of everyday life is defined by quite specific value-oriented goals, whereas the “inventions” of scientific rationality (mathematics, mathematical natural science, techno-science) remain neutral with regard to the needs of human existence. The resulting possibilities and numerous facts of using scientific achievements in subjective individual or group interests necessitate the search for conditions that allow reliance on axiologically meaningful, intellectually traditional, and perceptually experienced “axioms of common sense”. Difficulties in interpreting structures of reflective thinking of scientific rationality in terms of cognitive practices of everyday experience are substantially minimized in the context of their analysis as expressions of the conflict between “naturally arisen” and “artificially created” (K. Marx) formations of consciousness, taking into account some ideas put forward in the concepts of the “life-world” (E. Husserl), techniques of expressing objectivity in acts of consciousness (R. Descartes, E. Husserl), and “language games” (L. Wittgenstein). In conclusion, the integration of everyday life experience and scientific rationality offers fertile ground for philosophical inquiry and theoretical synthesis. By elucidating the ontological and epistemological dimensions of cognitive structures, we can deepen our understanding of human consciousness and its role in shaping our perception of reality. Further research in this area promises to shed light on the complex interplay between subjective experience and objective knowledge.

What binds us? Inter-brain neural synchronization and its implications for theories of human consciousness.

The association between neural oscillations and functional integration is widely recognized in the study of human cognition. Large-scale synchronization of neural activity has also been proposed as the neural basis of consciousness. Intriguingly, a growing number of studies in social cognitive neuroscience reveal that phase synchronization similarly appears across brains during meaningful social interaction. Moreover, this inter-brain synchronization has been associated with subjective reports of social connectedness, engagement, and cooperativeness, as well as experiences of social cohesion and ‘self-other merging’. These findings challenge the standard view of human consciousness as essentially first-person singular and private. We therefore revisit the recent controversy over the possibility of extended consciousness and argue that evidence of inter-brain synchronization in the fastest frequency bands overcomes the hitherto most convincing sceptical position. If this proposal is on the right track, our understanding of human consciousness would be profoundly transformed, and we propose a method to test this proposal experimentally.

Reality is not as it seems.

The prevalent view in cognitive science is that we construct our perception of reality in real time. But could we be misinterpreting the content of our perceptual experiences? Does what we perceive with our brain and senses reflect the true nature of reality? Might evolution have shaped our perceptions to guide adaptive behavior, without enabling us to see reality as it actually is? In a discussion moderated by Steve Paulson, cognitive scientistDonald D. Hoffmanand neurologistSuzanne O'Sullivananalyze these questions and their profound implications for our understanding of human consciousness.

Charles Cole. The Consciousness’ Drive: Information Need and the Search for Meaning. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2018. 247p. Hardcover, $79.99 (ISBN 978-3-319-92455-7). LC 2018-946105.

Author Charles Cole’s understanding of human consciousness is built foundationally upon the work of evolutionary psychologist Merlin Donald, who visualized the development of human cognition in four phases, with three transitions. According to Donald’s Theory of Mind, preceding types of cognition do not cease to exist after human cognition transitions to a new phase, but exist as four layers within the modern consciousness. Cole’s narrative in the first part of the book recounts Donald’s model of human cognition, categorizing episodic, mimetic, mythic, and theoretic phases of cognition. The second half of the book sets up a particular situation of consciousness using the frame theory of Marvin Minsky, uses Meno’s paradox (how can we come to know that which we don’t already know?) in a critique of framing as Minsky conceived it, and presents group and national level framing and shows their inherent danger in allowing information avoidance and sanctioning immoral actions. Cole concludes with a solution of information need being sparked or triggered that takes the human consciousness out of a closed information loop, driving the consciousness to seek new information.

Consciousness: Humanoid Robots and Caring in Nursing From Multicultural Perspectives

The purpose of this article is to present the philosophical and religious understanding of human consciousness. It targets those involved in designing “humanoid robots for care.” It focuses on an important human attribute: consciousness in relation to caring. Multicultural/religious approaches of Hinduism, Islamic, and Western and Judeo–Christianity are used to illuminate consciousness from these perspectives. This article gives the designers a foundational understanding of human consciousness to address the “how and why” of humanoid robotic consciousness, and to help answer dilemmas regarding creating “humanoid robots for care.”

Natural Awareness: The Discovery of Authentic Being in the rDzogs chen Tradition

According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition ‘The Great Perfection’ (rDzogs pa chen po), we can distinguish between two basic dimensions of mind: an intentional dimension that is divided into perceiver and perceived and a non-dual dimension that transcends all distinctions between subject and object. The non-dual dimension is evident through its intuitional characteristics; an unbounded openness that is free from intentional limitations, a spontaneous luminosity which presences all phenomena, and self-awareness that recognizes the original resonance of beings. Owing to these characteristics, the descriptions of this dimension exemplify an integrative way of speaking about primordial reality, which resolves the assumed dichotomy between kataphatic and apophatic discourses by pointing to a dimension that pervades all phenomena without being identified with any of those. In this article, I intend to discuss the characteristics of the non-dual dimension and their implications for our understanding of human consciousness and the inherent co-emergence of positive and negative perceptions of reality.

Mind and Consciousness as per J. Krishnamurti

The present article looks at mind and consciousness from the perspective of the eminent Indian philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti. He believed in total awareness as being essential for a free mind. Human beings always learned from their past, and it was important that they looked inwards and freed themselves from self-perpetuated torment. It was also necessary that they avoided repression. The society in which we live should be organic, where, although individuals had no choice but to dwell in that society, it was one where the interests of the individual and society were the same. He also maintained that religion was always the result of past conditioning. A mind should be investigative and scientific. One could not get pleasure without difficulty, for which living in totality, not in segments, was a must. We often dwell on one part of the consciousness and miss its holistic aspect. One must uncover the mind layer by layer to achieve complete growth. Deeper delving into it and a study of J. Krishnamurti's philosophy is a must for the understanding of human consciousness, in a manner that is simple, yet abstract and deep.

Interpersonal Communication - A Fresh Look

Communication is more than an exchange of information between and among people. It is a dynamic process, having many dimensions, and is not easy to define. Studies show that both innate and learned factors significantly impact the process. Physiological factors, too, seem to have a strong influence on the process, and affect perception, cognition, encoding, transmission, decoding and comprehension, and communicator consistency. Recent evidence from the field of Neuroscience seems to indicate that a significant amount of neuronal activity precedes the conscious awareness of the need to communicate, the communication itself, and the consequent generation of meaning. These findings raise questions about many hitherto held beliefs about human consciousness, communication, and behavior. If further research corroborates these findings then it will have a significant impact on our understanding of human consciousness, communication and behavior. One new way of viewing interpersonal communication is to see it as ‘a perpetual flow’, between and among participants, influenced by evolutionary processes and connected with our desire to propagate and survive.

Hermeneutics for architects?

Architectural textbooks typically present hermeneutics as an interpretative relationship to creativity or authorship related to ‘meaning of architecture’ rather than to meaning in and of itself, which this paper argues hermeneutics is best understood to be. Several rather useful outcomes become available to architects if they take up the description of hermeneutics offered in this paper and there would be substantial support for the claim that the architectural building is an experiment in society as such because no building is an island but belongs to a life world. The objects we work upon, buildings, form part of the life world, the duration of experience for people other than just its owners and occupants so that we need to have a way of widening the political aspects of architecture to include the lives of those who are not included except through an understanding of human consciousness.

Ancestral power: the dreaming, consciousness, and Aboriginal Australians

The Dreaming, or the Dreamtime, is the English translation of a complex Aboriginal religious concept. It relates to the idea of an ancestral presence which exists as a spiritual power that is deeply present in the land. This presence or power also exists in certain paintings, in some dance performances, and in songs, blood and ceremonial objects.In Ancestral Power, Lynne Hume seeks to further our understanding of human consciousness by looking through a Western lens at the concept of the Dreaming. She examines the idea that Aboriginal people may have used certain techniques for entering altered states of consciousness. Could their experiences in such states, together with their extensive knowledge of their environment, have helped to create the cosmological scheme we call the Dreaming?With these questions in mind, she brings together and examines, for the first time, a wide range of existing literature on Aboriginal cosmology and spiritual practices, together with studies of Aboriginal art, data from anthropologists and ethnomusicologists, and statements by Aboriginal people from many different regional areas of Australia. Much of the information she highlights is little known.Ancestral Power suggests that Aboriginal spirituality is much more complex and compelling than the early missionaries could ever have imagined.

The Neurobiology of Sorcery: Deleuze and Guattari's Brain

This article is intended to work on a number of different levels. First it is concerned with the brain-become-subject as hypothesized by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari in their book What is Philosophy?. It is concerned with demonstrating the convergence between Deleuze and Guattari's work and the claims of some contemporary neuro-biological theories of consciousness. In particular, I will be comparing Deleuze and Guattari's hypothesis to the work of Gerald Edelman and Daniel Dennett. Second, it is my contention that the shared themes of this convergence amount to the renewal of a paradigm in the understanding of human consciousness and its relationship to the body, which I have elsewhere called `the new Bergsonism'. The emphasis in the text on themes such as duration, material connectedness and immanence, Becoming, multiplicity, selection and so on, is taken to be self-evidently Bergsonian. The primary task of this particular article is, then, to establish a careful technical demonstration of the existence of a shared set of themes and concepts. I have made this demonstration more concrete by placing it within the context of a discussion of the affective dimensions of the experience of social idiosyncrasy (as defined by Adorno and Horkheimer). My wider agenda is that this demonstration of shared themes in poststructuralism and neuro-science should contribute towards a more general attempt to establish a neo-Bergsonian paradigm at the heart of a new sociology of affect.

What is consciousness for?

The question “What is consciousness for?” is considered with particular relevance to objects created using interactive technologies. It is argued that an understanding of artificial life with it attendant notion of robotic consciousness is not separable from an understanding of human consciousness. The positions of Daniel Dennett and John Searle are compared. Dennett believes that by understanding the process of evolutionary design we can work towards an understanding of consciousness. Searle's view is that in most cases mental attributes such as consciousness are either dispositional or are observer relative. This opposition is taken as the basis for a discussion of the purposes of consciousness in general and how these might be manifest in human and robotic forms of life.