Consciousness; still no answer (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, November 01, 2015, 20:42 (3309 days ago) @ David Turell

A long essay on the subject:-http://inference-review.com/article/consciousness-"Explaining consciousness either means characterizing consciousness, which is a descriptive task, or it means assigning it a cause, which is a theoretical task. Both answer very differently the question, “What is consciousness?” But theoretical explanations of consciousness do not approach its mystery. If I ask what consciousness is, I am not asking by what it is brought about.-***-"My sense of myself is of authority, not only to select among the possible but to propose what is suitable and to act on it, but also to interrupt myself after beginning to act on it. If I become angry and say something rude or do something violent, or say or do something that I later regret, I am at all times authoritative. The sense of authority extends throughout my consciousness, and my consciousness is much more extensive than that which I can say or report that I feel.-"It is me. That is the way I am.-***-"It would be good if we could describe the mind in flight, but we cannot. But characterizing what goes on in a person's mind is the beginning point, the minimal beginning point, for any progress in brain science, or the philosophy of mind. If we cannot succeed in providing a good—not necessarily a perfect—characterization of consciousness, then we cannot succeed in what philosophers and scientists wish to account for, either in saying what consciousness is or in determining what biological machinery produces it. In order to progress to a science of mind, we must have descriptive, preferably quantitative, access to the mentalities. We do not have that access. The mentalities of thinking and feeling are themselves never before the mind.-"Are we then left with an imponderable mystery forever? The answer is yes. But the answer is yes only until we have another plane that science and philosophy might reach. On the assumption that intelligence is not limited by our present imagination, an explanation is not and can never be banished in prospect.-"But if not forever, right now the mystery is imponderable."-Comment: How can we study consciousness if it ends up that we are thinking about ourselves, and we don't know the source of consciousness?