The origin and the essence of consciousness

By: Alex Watterman

Many scientists have intensively looked for a clue of such phenomenon as “consciousness”. But, as Chalmers (1995) states, consciousness is the most baffling and the hardest problem to explain in the science of mind. For centuries scientists have argued about the essence of consciousness and about possibilities of its cognition. As a result a lot of theories of explaining this phenomenon as well as different strategies of its investigation have appeared.

Theologians regard consciousness as a part of divine senses. Idealists consider consciousness to be primary with regard to substance. Supporters of objective idealism declare that consciousness is authentic reality. Materialists try to find the commonness between phenomenon of consciousness and objective world. Materialistic philosophy and psychology are based on the following principles: consciousness is a function of the brain and is a reflection of environment.

Besides there are a lot of strategies of the investigation of consciousness: realistic, objectively idealistic, phenomenological, materialistic, functional, etc. All these strategies have right to exist, and each strategy contributes a lot to the investigation of consciousness. For example, Paul and Patricia Churchland (1995) showed in their investigation how functionalism could handle problems concerning consciousness.

In order to understand well the essence of consciousness, it is necessary to clear up a question of its origin. That’s why in the present work there will be covered both the origin of consciousness and its essence.

The origin of consciousness.

Consciousness appeared as a function of highly organized brain, which was formed under the influence of labor and language. The matter is that the brain as an organ of consciousness developed simultaneously with the hand as an organ of labor. As a result of labor activities a human being learnt to think, to plan his actions, to imagine possible results and the means of achieving them. The main demonstration of human’s consciousness was purposefulness of his actions and prevision. Besides collective labor contributed to the development of consciousness, because it required to communicate with people, to control person’s activities, to regulate his emotions, his will, etc.

Another factor that favored the development of consciousness was language. Language served as a means of communication as well as an instrument of consciousness. Consciousness not only is revealed in language but also is formed with its help. Language is a direct reality of thought, of consciousness.

As a rule humans express their conscious states with the help of language, that’s why there is a strong correlation between language abilities and consciousness.

In a word, thanks to the labor and language human’s consciousness was formed.

The definition of consciousness.

Consciousness is a superior form of the reflection of environment. It is a function of the brain that is peculiar only to human beings and connected with speech. It consists in generalized and purposeful reflection of the environment, in prior mental construction of actions and prevision of their results, in rational regulation and controlling of person’s behavior. The core of consciousness and the means of its existence is knowledge. Consciousness belongs to a subject, to a human being, but not tothe environment. Because of it, consciousness can be characterized as subjective image of objective world. Thus, Nagel in his work “What is it like to be a bat?” (1974) states that consciousness includes both objective and subjective experiences.

Essential features of consciousness.

The first features are qualitative features of conscious experience. It means that every state of consciousness emerges as a result of certain qualities, namely smell, color, sound, seeing, etc. This happens because when we see, hear, or think at the same time we perceive the environment. And it influences our states of consciousness. Nagel (1974) described this phenomenon. He stated that if bats are conscious, there is something that can be a bat. In a word, there is always something it is like to be a conscious organism. This factor singles out consciousness from many other phenomena of the world.

Another scientists Paul and Patricia Churchland (1995) also declare that human being’s sensations are distinguished on the basis of their qualitative features. They call these features “qualia” and state that it should be always taken into account, because qualitative characteristics of conscious states are reliable indices of their functional roles. Besides it should be pointed out that qualia does not cause anything physical, but in its turn it can be caused by certain physical factors (Jackson, 1982).

Another important feature of consciousness is its subjectivity. It was proved that conscious states are subjective. Because conscious states can exist only when a human being experiences something. As mentioned above, states of consciousness appear as a result of qualia. But in order to perceive qualia, there should be a person, a subject experiencing events of the environment. Thus states of consciousness can exist only if they are experiences.

This thought is supported by Nagel (1974), who states that conscious facts are “accessible only from one point of view”. It shows that conscious states self-directed and can be distinguished by a person.

Brian Loar (1990) agrees with Nagel declaring that objective description of reality can leave certain details out. It happens because sometimes it cannot fully characterize the environment as well as sometimes it does not use subjective concepts as conscious states.
The third feature is the unity of conscious states. It can be explained by the fact that qualia and subjectivity imply each other. Well-organized unity is essential to the functioning of the conscious organism.

Intentionality is another feature, which makes mental states determined and directed at certain objects, events, etc. Paul and Patricia Churchland (1995) researched the question of intentionality in their work and stated that there was no such thing as intrinsic intentionality.
Consciousness and brain.

Consciousness is inseparable from the brain, because it is impossible to separate thought from the matter that thinks. The brain with its complicated biochemical, physiological, nervous processes is a material substance of consciousness.

The level of consciousness depends on the degree of the organization of the brain. It is confirmed by the fact that consciousness of a child develops as a result of the development of the brain.

Consciousness is caused by these neurobiological processes in the brain. And consciousness is a state that the brain is in, not a separate substance.

McGinn (1989) states that there are certain properties of the brain that make organisms be conscious. Because processes in the brain cause human’s conscious states, experience, inner qualitative and subjective thoughts. McGinn tried to solve the mind-brain problem, but came to the conclusion that it was insoluble because of the kind of the problem it was. He concluded that we could not get to know clearly those properties of the brain.

The structure of consciousness.

Consciousness has an organized structure and integral system, consisted of different elements. Such factors as knowing and experience of things are clearly distinguished in this structure. The development of consciousness presupposes its enrichment with new knowledge about the environment and a person himself. Cognition and knowing about things have different levels, the depth of the penetration in the object and the level of subjective understanding. And according to Jackson (1982) these levels depend a lot on person’s mental states, their qualitative features, and his subjective perception. While physical information can be not enough for knowing things well.

Sensations, perception, notions, thinking form the core of consciousness. But they are not the only components of consciousness; there is also such an important element as attention that allows a person to keep certain things in the focus of his consciousness. Feelings, emotions are also components of the structure of consciousness as they demonstrate person’s attitude to the environment.

It should be pointed out that consciousness is not just a sum of its various elements, but it is their integral, well-structured unity.

Conclusion.

As Chalmers (1995) states the term “consciousness” is an ambiguous term, that often serves as a catch-all for all that is mysterious about mentality. It is very hard to explain it, because it resists any investigation. Nevertheless a lot of scientists are trying to find an explanation.
There are different theories, points of view describing processes of consciousness, conscious states and their connection with other phenomena.

In conclusion, we can say that conscious is a result of the development of human’s labor and language. Consciousness has its own qualitative features called “qualia” and is characterized be the subjectivity of conscious experience, the unity of its states and intentionality.
Consciousness is closely connected with the brain and is caused by its neurobiological processes in it.

Consciousness has compound integral structure that includes such elements as knowing, cognition, perception, emotions and many other important components. It makes person’s activities and thinking purposeful, regulated and directed at certain things. In a word consciousness is a unity of objective and subjective, of perception and attitude, of the environment and person’s inner world.

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