CONSCIOUSNESS FROM THE ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: PART I
Valeriy Ivanovitch Silantev
Institute of Philosophy and Law, Siberian Branch of the Russian Akademy of Sciences, 8, Nikolaev st., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
Keywords: сознание, проблема В«разум-разумВ», В«трудная проблемаВ», В«китайская комнатаВ», теоретическое описание сознания, consciousness, mind-mind problem, hard problem of consciousness, Chinese room, theoretical description of consciousness
Abstract
The article considers the brain, consciousness and the unconscious as different aspects of the whole cognitive activity of the mind. We assert that it is impossible to reduce consciousness to the brain or to the unconscious. At the same time, phenomenal experience cannot exist without brain activity and unconscious cognitive operations. The paper considers the effect of consciousness on the brain and the unconscious. The thesis is stated and proved that one can describe consciousness through theoretical concepts (as opposed to empirical and/or naive ones) without recourse to external processes. It is assumed that phenomenal experience as one of the key properties of highly organized life forms greatly influenced their evolutionary development.
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