Theories of Consciousness
The continuing failure of science to answer the profound question of consciousness is leading to many different ideas about it. Recent Medium posts on the topic are explored as a means of encouraging readers to think about their own theory of consciousness.
Think about this: you are reading this post (thank you!). Think about the fact that you are reading this. You are conscious. Now you are conscious of your consciousness. But why? And how? Those questions have come to the forefront of philosophy and science in recent years.
For years even as science progressed in remarkable ways the claims of science were not exclusive and most of us were content to live with the idea that the physical and spiritual both existed, that there was a material world and an immaterial one, that soul or mind or consciousness could be as real as the sun, moon and stars. As scientists claimed more and more ground of knowledge and our cultural institutions became a kind of monoculture regarding the physicalist belief system, the idea grew that consciousness was generated in the same way as anything else. All there is, in this view, is caused by the accidental and purposeless interactions of bits of matter. If we don’t know the mechanism as well as we know other mechanisms at work in the physical world, well, just wait, we’re getting closer and will soon know.
