Consciousness

Question 1

What do people generally associate being “conscious” with?

Answer 1

Having control, being aware of surroundings, responsive, making decisions.

Question 2

What is Rene Descartes’s argument for knowing if he is real?

Answer 2

“I think therefore I am.” He believes that even though he can not be certain that anything in the physical world is real, he knows he has a mind. If there is a greater force out there trying to trick him, he knows he needs a mind in order to be tricked. The fact that he has a mind and the ability to think is proof enough.

Question 3

The Grand Illusion

Answer 3

The idea that all sensations and memories could be just a dream.

Question 4

The Grand Deception

Answer 4

If there was a being more powerful than him, something that could manipulate his senses. He would have no way of knowing the difference.

Question 5

Reality is an illusion, but…

Answer 5

the deceiver is you.

Question 6

Dualism

Answer 6

The mind can somehow be separate from the physical human body. (Spirit, soul)

Question 7

Ghost in the Machine

Answer 7

The mind exists in the shell of the human body, the mind is in control, and the essence is separate.

Question 8

Accepting dualism means…

Answer 8

Something non-physical creates physical changes. How the mind can exist without the body (brain.)

Question 9

Monism

Answer 9

There is only one kind of stuff, everything is physical or everything is mental.

Question 10

Materialism (Form of Monism)

Answer 10

Everything is made from physical stuff, mind is a byproduct. The mind is not special. It could never be separate from the brain. (Professor claims this negates free-will)

Question 11

Idealism (Form of Monism)

Answer 11

Everything is made of mental stuff. The world is a projection of the mind. Nothing physical even exists.

Question 12

You can not prove that idealism…

Answer 12

is not true.

Question 13

What is similar about technology and the human brain?

Answer 13

Neurons firing in your brain are binary, they fire or they don’t, much like mechanical On and Off. 1’s and 0’s.

Question 14

Descartes doubts existence because…

Answer 14

all knowledge comes from the senses
(sight, sound, touch, etc)

Question 15

The Mind-Body Problem

Answer 15

Does the activity of the body create the mind?
Or does the mind exist separately but somehow interact with the body to make it active?

Question 16

Monists

Answer 16

• there is nothing special about your mind, it is a big complicated robot filled with behavior programs

Question 17

Dualists

Answer 17

• your mind exists on its own, your body is just a big vehicle to pilot your mind around

Question 18

Panpsychism (form of monism)

Answer 18

Every phsycial object has a form of “consciousness”

Question 19

“Mental activity without needing brains”

Answer 19

Flowers know when the sun shines

Question 20

The Combination Problem

Answer 20

Pansychism argues everything has it’s own form of consciousness, but if all the pieces are already conscious, how do I combine into one?

Question 21

The Knowledge Problem

Answer 21

Can subjective experiences be explained with knowledge alone?

Question 22

Explanatory Gap

Answer 22

• The aspects of a feeling or experience that cannot be explained with words or knowledge

Question 23

The Easy Problem of Consciousness

Answer 23

-Research in psychology and neuroscience
-Testing cognitive abilities
-Identifying functions of specific brain areas

Question 24

The “Hard” problem of consciousness

Answer 24

Why do our experiences feel the way they do?
◦ How do neurons firing equal subjective experiences?

Question 25

Do we see the same red?

Answer 25

Maybe your version of red looks green to me.

Question 26

Qualia

Answer 26

◦ The unique quality of your conscious
experience

Question 27

You can’t experience things inside another
person’s mind - this is an example of…

Answer 27

Qualia

Question 28

Problem of Awareness

Answer 28

What exactly does it mean to be aware
of something?
◦ Brain is processing many sensations
◦ Only some are actively perceived
◦ Are you aware of all the sensations that you are
not perceiving

Question 29

Conscious

Answer 29

Immediate “Awareness”

Question 30

Preconscious

Answer 30

Possible “awareness”
- Information you are not immediately aware
of, but could become aware
- Preconscious can become conscious by changing the focus of attention
- Autopilot

Question 31

Unconscious

Answer 31

Not available to “awareness”
- Information that cannot be assessed by
conscious awareness
◦ The conscious mind has no way of knowing
what happened during unconscious states

Question 32

Unconscious Knowledge

Answer 32

Sleepwalking (and sleep talking)
– Sleepwalkers that walk, talk, and do chores all while
being completely unconscious
– They will have no conscious memory of their
unconscious behavior

Question 33

Blindsight

Answer 33

Ability to be aware of visual information without being
able to “see” it
- Blindness due to damage to visual areas of the brain
But, they could still respond to visual information
– Would avoid obstacles in their way
– They could not explain why they “knew”

Question 34

There is no “center” of…

Answer 34

consciousness. No single brain area seems to “control” consciousness.

Question 35

Consciousness as an…

Answer 35

emergent property. (Consciousness occurs from several different brain areas
being synchronized together)