"The challenge of physics is to explain how consciousness works" (Roger Penrose).
consciousness works" (Roger Penrose)
"Consciousness is the greatest unsolved problem in biology" (Francis Crick).
of biology" (Francis Crick)
"Consciousness is one, there is nothing in a second position" (Upanishads).
second position" (Upanishads)
What is Consciousness?
The difficult definition
Consciousness −etymologically "to know together"− is very difficult to explain because we do not know exactly what it is, even though we all claim to have it. In fact, it is often considered to be such a mysterious and complex subject that it requires a multidisciplinary effort by generalists and specialists, by philosophers, neuroscientists, physicists, biologists, psychologists, linguists, mathematicians, computer scientists, systematists, etc. The subject of consciousness is often equated with the subject of life, since both constitute a mystery for science.
Today we are witnessing a renewed interest in the investigation of the consciousness, which is manifested in conferences, associations, research centers, specialized journals, books, etc. The problem of the consciousness is considered "the last great frontier of science", according to the organizers of the Conference "Towards a Science of Consciousness" (Tucson IV, 2000). Consciousness, indeed, is the key, the "Holy Grail of science", since the understanding of consciousness would open the doors to everything else, since it is believed that consciousness is the foundation of everything.
Throughout history there have been numerous attempts to explain consciousness, but none of them has provided a sufficiently satisfactory answer. It has even been suggested that the problem may be intractable for three reasons:
The scientific method cannot be applied because it presupposes an independent observer. And in the case of consciousness we cannot separate subject and object, since we play the role of observer and observed. Moreover, we cannot observe our consciousness without affecting it.
Consciousness is a subjective experience. It is not possible to objectify that experience so that it can be shared. It belongs to an internal world only accessible to the person who experiences it. This experience cannot be reduced to the concepts of physics because it is an internal world, a world different from the external world. It is thus a challenge to physicalism, the idea that all phenomena are physical.
Internal experiences are of a qualitative type, as opposed to external phenomena, which are of a quantitative type. Subjective qualities of conscious experience, such as smelling a rose, feeling the color red, experiencing pain, etc., are called qualia (plural of the Latin term quale). Qualia constitute the central question of the problem of consciousness. In an attempt to express or model qualia objectively, somewhat complex alternatives have been proposed, such as nonlinear chaotic dynamics, indeterministic processes, superposition of quantum states, and so on. But qualia cannot be reduced to physical phenomena, however sophisticated they may be.
The term "qualia" was coined by medieval scholastic philosophers and first used modernly in the philosophy of Clarence Irving Lewis.
Some opinions in this regard are:
For Galileo and Descartes, one thing is science, which deals with the world, and another the reality of the soul, which is inaccessible to science.
In 1913, John Broadus Watson, founder of behaviorism, in his "Manifesto for a Scientific Psychology" proposed to eliminate consciousness and subjective states from the scientific discussion. Instead, he proposed to limit the analysis to explicit and objective behavior. This movement had great influence in blocking the study of consciousness.
In the mid-1950s, with the emergence of cognitive science, attention returned to mental processes.
Wittgenstein, in "Philosophical Investigations" (published posthumously in 1953), wrote of "the feeling of an impassable gulf between consciousness and brain process."
For Thomas Nagel, in his article (considered a classic) "What is it like to be a bat?" [1974], there is an explanatory gap between our subjective consciousness and objective science. Science will never be able to explain what it is like to be a bat hanging upside down, emitting and receiving radar-like ultrasounds. The mental (or subjective) is not reducible to the physical (or objective).
According to philosopher Joseph Levine [1983], there is an explanatory gap between neural processes and consciousness.
Frank Jackson [1982, 1986] argues that it is not possible to explain consciousness scientifically. Jackson attacks physicalism by showing that qualia cannot be reduced to physical facts. [see Addendum - Mary's Room].
For John Searle [2000], the problem of consciousness is the explanation of qualia.
For David Chalmers [1995, 1999, 2002], constructing a theory of subjective experience requires expanding ontology, creating a new fundamental concept of a non-physical kind, beyond the concepts of matter, space and time. It is impossible to explain consciousness only from its neural correlates. Consciousness does not admit a reductionist explanation. Consciousness obeys principles that are outside conventional physics. There are properties or mental qualities (the qualia) that matter does not have.
According to Chalmers, on the subject of consciousness there are two problems:
The easy problem. It is to explain the ability to discriminate, categorize, react to environmental stimuli, integration of information, behavioral control, attention, ability to access one's own internal states, the difference between wakefulness and sleep, etc. The qualifier "easy" is justified because they are external mechanisms or functionalities, accessible to science.
The hard problem. It is the problem of explaining and why we have qualia or sensible internal experiences of phenomena, such as colors and tastes.
According to Gerald Edelman [2002], qualia are "the knot of the world" because, as long as they are not explained, science will not be able to solve the mystery of consciousness.
According to Francis Crick −co-discoverer together with James Watson of the helical structure of the DNA molecule− and Christof Koch [1990, 2002], perhaps radically new conceptions are needed, as happened in quantum mechanics, which forced a change in the prevailing scientific paradigm.
For Colin McGinn [2004], consciousness is something that is beyond the cognitive capacities of human beings, since it is a supernatural phenomenon that science will never be able to capture by rational means. Consciousness is epistemologically impenetrable, cognitively closed. This cognitive closure also occurs in the brain-consciousness link because introspective consciousness does not provide immediate knowledge about the brain, and neuroscientific knowledge does not provide access to consciousness. This position is called "new mysterianism".
For Christof Koch [2005], qualia integrate in a simple way all the detail information that enters through our senses, extracting its essential characteristics. For example, when I see a face of a person I know, the qualia (the significant aspects) allow me to recognize it. So qualia do not refer to concrete aspects of things (color, shape, etc.) but to generic, abstract or essential aspects. They are patterns that connect the external with the internal.
Daniel Dennett, author of "Consciousness Explained" [1995], questions qualia, claiming that the concept is confusing and therefore not a valid refutation of physicalism.
Physicist Steven Weinberg, in his book "The Dream of a Final Theory" [2003], states that the goal of physics is a "theory of everything," which explains all phenomena in the universe. But he recognizes that the problem of consciousness transcends physical laws.
The Multiple Visions of Consciousness
Given the multidisplinary character of the problem of consciousness, it has been interpreted from the points of view of different fields, and there are a great number of opinions that help us to approach it, even if only intuitively:
Psicology
Consciousness is an internal, subjective, qualitative state of perceiving, feeling and thinking.
Consciousness is a subjective, integrated, coherent, differentiated, informative and continuously changing process.
Consciousness is an adaptive capacity to the environment.
Consciousness is equivalent to self-reflection, self-awareness.
Consciousness, at its most basic or primary level, is perception. At a higher level, consciousness is associated with self-perception or perception of perception. In the latter sense, consciousness is reflexive, circular, and equivalent to self-awareness.
Consciousness is the perception of the underlying unity behind diversity.
Consciousness is something that is closely related to necessary truths.
Consciousness is a supreme and irreducible level, i.e., it cannot be reduced to simpler components.
Consciousness is the ability to categorize reality.
Consciousness is pattern recognition.
Awareness is knowledge of something with significance within a context or environment. For example, the doorbell rings and that means someone is knocking at the door.
Awareness is the perception of different variables in the environment.
Consciousness is the perception of all possibilities in every moment.
Consciousness is the union, synchronization or identification between the internal (subjective) world and the external (objective) world.
Consciousness is the same as feeling. If we are conscious, we feel, and we feel because we are conscious.
Consciousness is not a thing, but a process, a "stream of consciousness", according to the term coined by William James in "Principles of Psychology" (1890). This stream is formed by an uninterrupted series of different and unique mental states that are never repeated. Consciousness involves attention and short-term memory.
Consciousness is a stimulus-response model of interaction with the real world. Experiments have revealed that there is a delay of about 0.5 seconds between the occurrence of the stimulus and the response to that stimulus, although the brain "tricks" us into not being aware of it. This delay is due to the existence of a process (of an unconscious type) of the sensory information received, which is filtered to consider only what is most essential and important, gathering it into a unified whole.
Consciousness is freedom, capacity of decision and autonomy. "Matter is necessity; consciousness is freedom" (Bergson). In this sense, the response to stimuli is not automatic; there is a process of choosing the response, of free will. There is also free will in one's own initiative, without the need for external stimuli.
Consciousness is mere functionalism. Consciousness is characterized by functions, with inputs and outputs rather than by internal states. A function may have several outputs, which may, in turn, be inputs to other functions. Hilary Putnam was the originator of this conception of consciousness, although he later abandoned it.
This conception has been criticized on the grounds that an artificial system with the same functional states as a human being is not conscious.
According to the Global Workspace theory of Bernard Baars [1988], the content of consciousness is located in a global workspace, a central communication space through which all particular processes communicate with each other.
Biology
Consciousness is the same as life. There is no life without consciousness and no consciousness without life.
Consciousness is a manifestation of an energy or life force that is responsible for all forms of life in the universe.
Aristotle postulated a pneuma, or vital principle, which animates the bodies of living things.
For Bergson, ultimate reality is a vital impulse that is only comprehensible through intuition. The "élan vital" (vital force or impulse) is an energetic fluid that permeates life and especially the mind. It is a hypothetical force that causes the evolution and development of organisms.
Consciousness is the ability of a living being to create, remember and use representations of itself and its environment.
Mathematics
Consciousness is abstract knowledge of mathematical type. It has been suggested [Struppa et al. 2002] that category theory, the most generalized and abstract form of mathematics, is a language of consciousness.
Philosophy
Consciousness is the set of philosophical categories, the most general and abstract concepts of reality.
Consciousness is something unitary that exists a priori.
Consciousness is equivalent to existence or being.
Consciousness is the truth, the light (in a metaphorical sense) that makes us see things as they really are.
Consciousness is to intuit the essential, that is, that which is common to all things, that which connects all things.
Consciousness is a unified model of internal and external reality.
Consciousness is higher order thinking (thinking thoughts) or metathoughts.
Consciousness is knowledge of knowledge (meta-knowledge).
Consciousness is the perception of the ultimate simplicity underlying all things.
Consciousness is the perception of the underlying order of all things.
Consciousness is absolute and transcendental knowledge.
Consciousness is the ability to relate things. The more relationships, the more consciousness. Supreme consciousness is achieved in the deep, where everything is related and connected.
Consciousness (identified as mind or soul) and the body are different things. This is philosophical dualism.
Plato advocated an explicit dualism, which is evident in his theory of the transmigration of souls. If the soul survives the body, it must be something different from the body.
For Descartes, mind and body (brain) are two different things. This is the so-called "Cartesian dualism". The mind is not the brain, it has no spatial location and continues to exist after physical death. There is an interaction between the two and their junction point is the pineal gland (pituitary gland).
For Thomas Aquinas, the human being has a material part (body) and a non-material part (the soul).
John Eccles defended the theory of dualism, according to which the mind exists independently of the physical support (the brain). Dualism is of the interactionist type (the reciprocal causal relationship between material and mental substance). Consciousness cannot be reduced to neuronal activity.
Karl Popper also defended interactionist dualism.
Hilary Putnam admits the possibility of a model of consciousness independent of physical support.
Consciousness and reality are aspects of the same thing or substance, like two sides of the same coin. It is the so-called "philosophical monism". There are 3 currents:
The unique substance is matter (it is the materialistic monism). It is the "bottom-up" approach.
For physicalists, all reality is material and is described by physics. But they recognize that there is an explanatory gap in how the mental is reduced to the physical.
Philosophical materialism considers matter as the principle, origin and cause of all that exists. Matter is the foundation of scientific knowledge.
For Karl Marx, matter creates consciousness. Consciousness is highly organized matter.
For Lenin, consciousness is a mere reflection of matter. It is the theory of "photographic" knowledge.
The single substance is mind, spirit, consciousness or being. It is the "up-down" approach.
For Leibniz there is only one substance, spirit, which is simple, indivisible and active. This metaphysical reality underlies and generates the material universe.
For Swedenborg, something natural that does not have its origin in the spirit does not exist.
John Locke, in "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (1690) asks which came first, mind or matter. He answers mind, because "it is impossible to conceive that unconscious matter would produce a thinking or intelligent being."
According to David Bohm, there is an implicate (deep) order from which the explicate (surface) order emerges. Mind and matter are dual manifested aspects of the underlying unified reality that is the implicate order.
For Jung, the Unus Mundus (UM) is the primordial reality, the source of all that exists and to which everything returns. The Jungian concepts of archetype and synchronicity are related to the UM. The archetype is an expression of the UM. Synchronicity (or meaningful coincidence) refers to the fact that some manifestations of mind and matter are of a "synchronistic" type, coming from the same source, and meaningful to those who experience them.
The single substance is neither matter nor spirit. It is the neutral approach.
For Spinoza, the mental and the physical are properties of a single universal substance with infinite modes and infinite attributes.
For Sri Aurobindo, mind, matter and life are expressions of a common energy-substance which is pure existence or self-consciousness. The laws of consciousness are the same as those governing the physical world.
According to Teilhard de Chardin, there is no spirit or matter in the world; the 'material' of the universe is spirit-matter.
Identity theories postulate that mental and material (or neural) states are essentially identical 'core states', but considered from different perspectives. These theories were formulated by John Smart and Ullin Place in the 1950s.
Linguistics
Consciousness is language or it is a necessary factor for consciousness to occur. What is undeniable is the role that language has played in the development of consciousness. According to Julian Jaynes [2009], language is a necessary component of consciousness. Without language there is no consciousness.
According to Lev Vygotsky, consciousness is primarily linguistic and is a social construct. Social interactions are internalized and give rise to linguistic, psychological, and social functions. This is the semiotic notion of consciousness.
Consciousness is the emergence of semantics, that is, the passage or connection from the particular or superficial to the general, universal or deep; from instances to concepts. The more generic, profound or universal these concepts are, the greater the consciousness. It is in the deepest that everything acquires meaning and supreme semantics is reached. Consciousness is the perception of the profound in the superficial, for everything is a manifestation of the profound. Ultimately, semantics manifests itself in language.
According to Lévi-Strauss, consciousness, culture, the behaviors and thoughts of men, signs and meanings, are a manifestation of general laws, invariable categories or deep structures, which constitute a hidden or implicit language and which are reflected in external or explicit language. Everything manifest and visible is explained by the hidden and invisible. Language is a system of relations. All phenomena are linguistic and obey an unconscious structure. Language is not only a social phenomenon, but constitutes the foundation of every society.
Information and computer theory
Consciousness is equivalent to information.
Consciousness is a series of processes running in parallel.
Consciousness is a global semantic network. A semantic network is a graph used to represent knowledge, where the nodes are concepts and the arrows are relationships between concepts.
David Chalmers [1999] believes that there may be an underlying level common to mind and matter, which can be characterized in terms of information. A theory of consciousness should be based on a simple and elegant set of fundamental laws, analogous to the fundamental laws of physics, and in which the concept of information should play a central role.
The so-called "Integrated Information Theory" (IIT) of psychiatrist and neuroscientist Giulio Tononi [2009] postulates that the experience of consciousness is identical to integrated information:
We are conscious because the information we possess is highly integrated. The amount of integrated information that an entity possesses corresponds to its level of consciousness. A computer is not conscious because the information it contains is not integrated into a network of relationships.
All experience is integrated information. Consciousness is integrated information of an experience. Integrated experience means that parts of an experience are informative of each other.
To be conscious requires a single integrated entity of information.
All information of which one is conscious is present in our mind, and cannot be subdivided.
The states of consciousness are differentiated according to the information available at any given moment.
Qualia are not experienced separately because they are integrated into a complete experience.
Systemics
According to Systemics, the science that studies systems is "the science of consciousness".
According to General Systems Theory, consciousness is the result of the complexity of the self-organization of a natural system, from which patterns or laws emerge at every level.
According to the Theory of Enformed Systems, TES) [Enformy.com], all elements of life and consciousness are the product of enformed systems. Enformy is the ability of natural systems to self-organize. "Enformy" is a word derived from "energy" and "form." Enformy is a principle consisting of the ability to organize. It is the opposite of entropy (the tendency to disorder).
An enformed system is the sum of its parts plus a 4D (non-physical) map of the relationships between those parts. This map is called "ipseon" (in Latin, "ipse" means "same"). Enformy is a hypothetical type of immaterial essence that transcends space and time.
TES is a new and profound paradigm, which is not derived from other paradigms. It is a transdisciplinary conceptual model that seeks to explain the behaviors and properties of all types of systems.
Holismo
Consciousness is a holistic property or epiphenomenon, which emerges from the general and not from the particular. For example, when we look at a digital photograph of a face, the individual pixels have no meaning (or very little meaning). The face, the meaning, emerges from the general of the set of all pixels.
For Karl Pribram, the brain is a hologram within a larger hologram that is the universe. It is his theory of the holographic paradigm.
Neuroscience
The current paradigm in neuroscience is what is called "biological naturalism," which defends the biological character of mind and consciousness. Consciousness is the result of the extraordinary complexity of the brain. Consciousness and mind are epiphenomena of the brain, i.e., consciousness is a neural correlate. Therefore, the mind-body connection is one-way. What is difficult to explain is the mechanism of emergence of consciousness and qualia from neural networks.
William James rejected Cartesian dualism and concluded that consciousness is nothing more than a product of brain activity.
Francis Crick −co-discoverer of the DNA double helix− searched for "the neurons of consciousness," for he believed that consciousness was nothing more than the activity of such neurons.
For Francis Crick and Christof Koch [1990], the basis of consciousness may be synchronized neuronal oscillations (in frequency and phase) in the 40-70 Hz range of groups of neurons in the cerebral cortex. They believe that this phenomenon could explain the fusion into a coherent whole of the different characteristics of a perceived object, which are processed in different parts of the brain.
For Edelman & Tononi [2002], consciousness arises or emerges from the interconnection of different brain areas. They support that when a person is conscious of a stimulus he/she has more active neuronal areas than when he/she is not subjected to that stimulus.
For John Searle [1992, 2000], consciousness is an epiphenomenon, an emergent property of the nervous system and its fundamental structure, the brain. It is caused by low-level neural processes in the brain that produce qualia.
For Daniel Dennett [1995], Darwinism is a philosophy or paradigm of universal character applicable to all processes, including biological, cosmic and psychological ones. Within this philosophy, he considers the human mind and consciousness as the result of natural evolution, and in which memes play a fundamental role. Memes are one more expression of universal Darwinism. He thus defends the theory of neural Darwinism. "The subject of consciousness can be reduced to a set of problems that are manageable at the neural level and it only remains to know the details."
According to Dennett's [1995] "Multiple Draft Model", mental activity, which takes place in the brain, consists of a set of parallel processes that interpret and elaborate information from sensory stimuli, in such a way that this information is subject to a process similar to that of an editorial compilation: continuous revisions or updates are made, and there are multiple versions (or drafts) circulating throughout the brain. One of these drafts ends up being integrated into the narrative flow, which is a chain of information based on inputs and outputs, and which is what we call "consciousness". The "I" is just a narrative center of gravity, which is not located in the brain. Consciousness is not associated with any specific area of the brain.
Dennett argues for strong artificial intelligence: the brain is a computer. There are some Darwinian algorithms that are supposed to have a purpose, so research must rise from the physical level to the intentional level. In short, Dennett is a Darwinist, physicalist, emergentist and functionalist.
For Semir Zeki [1993], consciousness functions in the plural. There are many independent microconsciousnesses, as many as there are "struggles" of neurons over particular subjects (percepts, colors, shapes, etc.).
Kant had already postulated the existence of diverse consciousnesses (which he called "empirical"), but not independent, but united or related to the central consciousness of the "I".
Rodolfo Llinás [2003] proposes that consciousness is generated by the electrical signals produced between the neurons of the thalamus and the whole cerebral cortex.
For Francisco J. Rubia [2002], the mind is a function of the brain and a product of evolution. All products of the mind are a consequence of the relationship of the brain with the environment: they are constructions of the brain to adapt to the environment and survive.
Julian Jaynes, in his unique and original work "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakup of the Bicameral Mind" [2009], puts forward the theory that ancient peoples had no introspective consciousness and were dominated by one chamber (the right hemisphere of the brain), through which they received and perceived messages. The left hemisphere (the other chamber) had no activity and only received messages from the right hemisphere, messages that were interpreted as coming from the gods. With the appearance of language and writing, the left hemisphere and the communication between both chambers became active, progressively giving rise to self-awareness. The bicameral union of the brain began during the second millennium B.C., at the time of the ancient Greeks. So human consciousness is not the result of biological evolution but is the result of a learning process.
This theory has received numerous criticisms. Ned Block affirms that Jaynes confuses the emergence of consciousness with the concept of consciousness. But according to Daniel Dennett it is not possible to have a thing without its associated concept, both go together.
For Antonio Damasio [2002], the mind is biological in nature. Mental processes are biological processes. Neural networks are the origin of the mind and consciousness, where images play the main role. The scheme is as follows:
Representations or neural patterns become images. Images are mental patterns or qualia, which are of a unified type.
Images produce sensations-emotions that are experienced by the subject as his own and as the owner of them.
Images are manipulated in a process we call "thinking".
Consciousness is an integrated sensation-perception of images.
Human thought always works with images, which manifest themselves in the mechanics of language when the objects present in the images are connected with linguistic signs.
Once language is available, the mind begins to have images of language itself, thus appearing an internal language that functions as a system of images. For example, when we pronounce the word "tree," the image of tree immediately appears.
The mind always functions by means of images, with thoughts (even the most abstract ones) and with sensations-emotions.
Quantum physics
The subject of consciousness has been related to the deep level of matter, to the quantum level, where matter is blurred.
For Roger Penrose [1999, 2007], consciousness does not emerge at the neuronal level, but at an even deeper level, at the quantum level, where indeterminacy and non-computable processes rule. Neurons are computable because they are elements that can be explained as physical phenomena. But the acts of consciousness are not algorithmic, that is, they are not computable. It relies on the limitations of formal mathematics derived from Gödel's theorem and on the need for mathematical intuition. Therefore, neurons cannot explain consciousness. Strong AI (artificial intelligence) (replicating the human mind) is not possible. Neither is weak AI (simulating the human mind).
Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff have presented a quantum theory of consciousness. Consciousness may be the result of a quantum coherence phenomenon in the brain due to the activity of microtubules. Microtubules are filamentous structures composed of proteins called tubulins. Tubulins form the skeleton of cells in the body, including neurons. They also conduct chemical signals and nerve impulses between cells. Tubulins remain in a quantum superposition of two states (a qubit), depending on the arrangement of their electrons. A microtubule contains multiple qubits. Quantum entanglement between tubulins allows the formation of macroscopic states of quantum coherence. Consciousness is the result of non-deterministic quantum processes, induced by coherent superposition, that take place in microtubules. The brain is a non-deterministic quantum supercomputer.
The Penrose-Hameroff theory of consciousness is called Orchestrated Objective Reduction, abbreviated Orch-OR. In short, the theory postulates that consciousness is a quantum, non-computable process performed by qubits formed in the microtubules of cells.
Metaphysics, spiritualism and universalism
Consciousness is the pure and deep "I", the sense or perception of oneself as center and being.
Consciousness is a part of Spirit.
Everything is consciousness. The universe, the mind, the body are manifestations of consciousness.
According to Jainism −the oldest religion of India−, all living creatures are conscious.
According to panpsychism, all matter, animate or inanimate, is conscious to some extent.
Unity is the true reality, although it has the appearance of multiplicity. It is the Hindu Brahman, the Buddhist Dharmakaya, the Chinese Tao.
In Hindu philosophy, Turiya is the experience of pure consciousness. It is not a state of consciousness, for the term "state" implies change. Turiya never changes or evolves into something else. The revelation of Turiya is the end of all seeking. Turiya is consciousness in its selfhood. It is timeless. It is the ultimate and ineffable wisdom of consciousness in its selfhood. And it is not an experience because there is no division between subject and object.
According to Vedanta, consciousness is the fundamental reality of the universe. Consciousness is devoid of causality. It is the ultimate reality, beyond space, time and matter. It is the primary agent, the ground of reality. It depends on itself to be and to exist. It knows by itself. It is in everything, pervades everything, underlies everything, including the void. It underlies even the past and the future. It is limitless, immense and immeasurable. It can be experienced during meditation as pure consciousness. It is endowed with infinite power and intelligence. It is a void and at the same time, paradoxically, an essential fullness. It contains all existence in potency and is the source of all existence.
Addendum
East vs. West on the subject of consciousness
There is currently some disagreement among psychologists on how to harmonize Eastern and Western conceptions of consciousness:
In the West they have consolidated Jung's concept of the "collective unconscious", which contains the collective non-local memory, with universal patterns and meanings. The collective unconscious is at a level shared by all human beings.
According to Jung's depth psychology, the goal of evolution is the progressive integration or union of the opposites in a process called "individuation": the union of the conscious with the unconscious, the ego (the "lower self") with the self (the "higher self"). In this union, the archetypes are contacted, which connect the internal and external worlds.
In the East the concept of "superconsciousness" or "pure consciousness" is used. It is an elevated psychology, opposed to the previous one, and whose ultimate goal is to achieve spiritual enlightenment (samadhi or satori), where there is no duality, where there is no distinction between opposites (subject and object).
According to Sri Aurobindo's teachings, the goal to be achieved is supramental consciousness, the supermind. For Sri Aurobindo, mind, matter and life are expressions of a common energy-substance, which is pure consciousness. And that the laws of consciousness are the same that govern the physical world.
Individuation and enlightenment are distinct processes. Individuation is an integrative process. Enlightenment is a process of liberation and connection with the higher, the unlimited and unmanifest, where the unity of all things is contemplated.
Biocentrism
Biocentrism is a "theory of everything" proposed by Robert Lanza [2012], a scientist in the field of regenerative medicine. Biocentrism is based on considering life and consciousness as the foundation of the physical world:
Life is not a by-product or epiphenomenon of matter. Life does not emerge from the evolution of matter, but it is life and consciousness that create the physical world. The universe comes into existence because of life, not the other way around. Life implies reality. Life is the key to understanding the universe.
The universe is designed by and for life. The universe is an active process based on life. No universe that does not meet the conditions for life can exist. When life emerged, the observer appeared and the universe collapsed, it manifested. That is why the physical constants of the universe are perfectly adjusted for life to exist.
The observer creates reality and not the other way around. What we perceive as reality is a process that requires the participation of consciousness. Nature is correlative to consciousness; one cannot exist without the other. Our inner and outer perceptions are inextricably intertwined. They are two sides of the same coin that cannot be separated. Nothing is real until it is perceived. Consciousness is the essence of perception. Everything we perceive is created by the act of perception.
Space and time are not objects, they have no real existence, they are illusions or constructs of the mind based on perception. Consciousness knows neither beginning nor end. Time is the process by which we sensorially perceive changes.
Consciousness is everything. Nothing exists outside of consciousness.
There is no death. The concept of death is an illusion created by our mind by associating it with body, space and time. Consciousness is indestructible because it does not belong to the world of matter, space and time. Immortality is not perpetual existence, but existence outside of time. A person possesses a body-soul duality, which is an extension of the wave-particle duality of quantum entities. Just as the wave never ceases to exist, so the soul never ceases to exist. All the information of a quantum entity is in its wave function. The brain is the "disk" on which data is saved in the physical world. When the body dies, the physical disk disappears but the data of our consciousness remains, it is indestructible.
This conception is similar to the anthropic principle: the universe exists so that human life can exist. A slight modification of one of the fundamental constants of physics would make human life impossible. It also fits with John Wheeler's theory of the participatory universe, a version of the anthropic principle in which observers are necessary for the universe to exist.
Biocentrism has received criticism:
It is a reinvention of idealism (mind creates reality).
It does not explain how consciousness and life create the universe. What is the nature of the interaction between consciousness and universe?
The explanatory model of consciousness creates a bigger problem than it attempts to solve.
Mary's room
Mary's Room is a philosophical experiment proposed by Frank Jackson in his article "Epiphenomenal Qualia" [1982] and expanded in "What Mary Didn't Know" [1986] in which he attempts to disprove the theory that all knowledge is of a physical kind.
Maria is a scientist who is forced to investigate the world from a black and white room through a black and white monitor. She specializes in the neurophysiology of vision and knows all about the science of color, including the physical effects of people experiencing color (as when someone says for example "the sky is blue"), but she has never experienced color. What will happen when she leaves the black and white room or is put on a color TV and experiences color? Will she learn anything new?
For Jackson, Mary gains new knowledge that is mental, not physical. Therefore, not all knowledge comes from the physical world, qualia exist, they are real mental properties. And physicalism (the idea that all phenomena in the universe are of a physical kind) is false.
Bibliografía
Aunger, Robert. The electric meme. A new theory on how we think. Paidós Ibérica, 2003.
Baars, Bernard J. A Cognitive Theory of Consciousness. Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Blackmore, Susan. Conciousness. An Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2003.
Blackmore, Susan. Conciousness. A Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2005.
Blackmore, Susan. Conversations on Consciousness: What the Best Minds Think about the Brain, Free Will, and What It Means to Be Human. Oxford University Press, 2007.
Blackmore, Susan. La máquina de los memes. Paidós Ibérica, 2000.
Block, Ned; Flanagan, Owen; Güzeldere, Güven. The Nature of Consciousness. Philosophical and Scientific Debates. MIT Press, 1996.
Chalmers, David J. The Conscious Mind. In search of a fundamental theory. Gedisa, 1999.
Chalmers, David J. Consciousness. Issues 28, Research and Science, 2002.
Chalmers, David J. Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, vol. no. 3, pp. 200-219, 1995. Available on the Internet.
Combs, Allan. Consciousness Explained Better. Towards an Integral Understanding of the Multifaceted Nature or Consciousness. Paragon House, 2009.
Crick, Francis. La búsqueda científica del alma. Una revolucionaria hipótesis para el siglo XX. Debate, 2003.
Crick, Francis; Koch, Christof. Towards a Neurobiological Theory of Consciousness. Seminars in The Neurosciences, vol. 2, pp. 263-275, 1990. Disponible en Internet.
Crick, Francis; Koch, Christof. El problema de la conciencia. Temas 28, Investigación y Ciencia, 2002.
Damasio, Antonio R. El error de Descartes. La emoción, la razón y el cerebro humano. Crítica, 2006.
Damasio, Antonio R. La sensación de lo que ocurre. Cuerpo y emoción en la construcción de la conciencia. Debate, 2001.
Damasio, Antonio R. Creación cerebral de la mente. Temas 28, Investigación y Ciencia, 2002.
Dennet, Daniel C. La conciencia explicada. Una teoría interdisciplinar. Paidós Ibérica, 1995.
Dennet, Daniel C. Contenido y conciencia. Gedisa, 1996.
Dennet, Daniel C. Tipos de mente: hacia una comprensión de la conciencia. Debate, 2000.
Dennet, Daniel C. La actitud intencional. Gedisa, 1991.
Dennet, Daniel C. Dulces sueños: obstáculos filosóficos para una ciencia de la conciencia. Katz Barpal Editores, 2000.
Dawkins, Richard. El gen egoista. Salvat, 2014.
Edelman, Gerald M.; Tononi, Giulio. El Universo de la Conciencia. Crítica, 2002.
Goswami, Amit. The Self-Aware Universe. Tarcher-Penguin, 1995.
Hagelin, John S. Is Consciousness the Unified Field? A Field Theorist's Perspective. Modern Science and Vedic Science, 1 (1): 28-87. MUM Press, 1987.
Hall, J. Storrs. Beyond AI. Creating the Conscience of the Machine. Prometheus Books, 2007.
Hameroff, Stuart. Quantum computation in brain microtubules? The Penrose-Hameroff "Orch OR" model of consciousness. Internet.
Hofstadter, D.R.; Dennett, D.C. The Mind’s I. Harvester/Basic Books, New York, 1981.
Ikonicoff, Roman. La conciencia y la máquina. Galaxia Gutemberg/Círculo de Lectores, 1999.
Irala, Narciso. Control cerebral y emocional. Editorial Mensajero, 1971.
Jackson, Frank. What Mary Didn´t Know. Journal of Philosophy, vol. 83, no. 5, pp. 291-295. 1986. Disponible en Internet.
Jaynes, Julian. El origen de la conciencia en la ruptura de la mente bicameral. Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2009.
Kafatos, M. Non locality, Foundational Principles and Consciousness. The Noetic Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 21-27, 1999.
Koch, Christof. La Consciencia. Una aproximación neurobiológica. Ariel, 2005.
Koch, Christof. Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist. The MIT Press, 2012.
Lanza, Robert. Biocentrismo. Sirio, 2012.
Laszlo, Ervin; Grof, Stanislav; Russell, Peter. La revolución de la conciencia. Un diálogo multidisciplinario. Kairós, 2008.
Levine, Joseph. Materialism and qualia. The explanatory gap. Pacific Philosophical Quaterly, vol. 64, pp. 354-361, 1983.
Llinás, Rodolfo R. El cerebro y el mito del yo. El papel de las neuronas en el pensamiento y el comportamiento humano. Belacqva de Ediciones y Publicaciones, 2003.
Luria, Aleksander Romanovich. Conciencia y lenguaje. Visor Libros, 1984.
Matthews, Robert. 25 grandes ideas. La ciencia que está cambiando el mundo. Capítulo 1: Conciencia. Espasa Forum, 2005.
McGinn, Colin. Consciousness and its Objetcts. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Mishlove, Jeffrey. The Roots of Consciousness. Marñlowe & Co., 1997.
Nagel, Thomas. What Is it Like to Be a Bat?. Philosophical Review, vol. 83, no. 4, pp. 435-450, 1974. Disponible en Internet.
Neumann, Erich. The Origins and History of Conciousness. Princeton University Press, 1995.
O’Donnell, Ken. La última frontera: Un viaje por la conciencia humana. Asociación Espiritual Mundial Brhma Kumaris, 2010.
Penrose, Roger. La nueva mente del emperador. Mondadori, 1999.
Penrose, Roger. Las sombras de la mente. Hacia una comprensión científica de la consciencia. Crítica, 2007.
Pinker, Steven. Cómo funciona la mente. Destino, 2001.
Quincey, Christian de. Radical Kowing. Understanding Conciousness through Relationship. Park Street Press, 2005.
Ramachandran, Vilayanur S.; Blakeslee, Sandra. Fantasmas en el cerebro. Debate, 1999.
Ramachandran, Vilayanur S. Mirror Neurons and imitation learning as the driving forcé behind “the great leap forward” in human evolution. Internet.
Rizzolatti, Giacomo; Sinigaglia, Corrado. Las neuronas espejo, Paidós, 2006.
Roth, G. The Quest to Find Consciousness. Scientific American. Special Edition on mind, 2004.
Rubia, Francisco J. El cerebro nos engaña. Temas de Hoy, 2002.
Russell, Peter. Ciencia, conciencia y luz. Kairós, 2001.
Searle, John R. El misterio de la conciencia. Paidós, 2000.
Searle, John R. The Rediscovery of the Mind (Representation and Mind). MIT Press, 1992.
Shapiro, Francine. EMDR. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Pax México, 2008.
Struppa, Danie1e C.; Kafatos, Menas; Roy, Sisir; Kato, Goro. Category Theory as the Language of Consciousness. Noetic Journal, vol. 3, no. 3, 2002. Disponible en Internet.
Taylor, Jill Bolte. Un ataque de lucidez. Un viaje personal hacia la superación. Debate, 2009.
Tolle, Eckhar. El Poder del Ahora. Gaia Ediciones, 2001.
Tononi, Giulio. A Complex Theory of Consciosness. Scientific American, August 2009.
Vygotsky, Lev Semionovich. Pensamiento y lenguaje. Paidós Ibérica, 2005.
Wallace, B. Alan. The Taboo of Subjetivity. Towards a New Science of Consciousness. Oxford University Press, 2004.
Watson, Don; Williams, Berney. Introduction to the Theory of Enformed Systems. Enformy.com.
Weinberg, Steven. El sueño de una teoría final. La búsqueda de las leyes fundamentales de la naturaleza. Crítica, 2003.
Zeki, Semir. Vision of the Brain. Wiley-Blackwell, 1993.
