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Benefits of EquiSync:
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 Consciousness theories: an index of the human complexity
The efforts to define the concept of “consciousness” and to develop consciousness theories go far back in the past, in the works of the Ancient Greek philosophers. Plato, for example, was suggesting that we could attain consciousness through the world of ideas, which, in his opinion, was as real as the world of objects. The same idea can be retrieved in the 17th century at Descartes, the forerunner of today consciousness theories. According to Descartes, every state of consciousness involves an idea, which is representational. This led him to conclude that consciousness is a fundamentally representation-based process.
It was not until the 19th century that the consciousness started to be scientifically approached. In fact, it is said that the need to pay attention to this concept in a scientific way determined psychology to separate from philosophy. This was the starting point in the development of the consciousness theories.
Today, there are many consciousness theories tackling the concept in different ways and relating it to different sides or even parts of the human being.
Below, you can find a selection of the main consciousness theories and their synthesis:
The Consciousness Cognitive theories. There are three main approaches within this subset of consciousness theories:
1. The Global Workforce Theory (GWT) developed by Bernard Baars. Grounded on the metaphor of the brain as a theatre, GWT points out the distinction between conscious and unconscious processes.
2. The Intermediate Level Theory of Consciousness developed Ray Jackendoff and Jesse Prinz suggests that, among the hierarchy of representations used to describe the cognitive system, the consciousness arises at specific levels. The theory is based on Jackendoff’s observation that consciousness is not associated with low-level or high-level representations, but rather with the intermediate level ones.
3. The Information Integration Theory was developed by Giulio Tononi to explain how the consciousness arises from dynamic complex systems. This theory is based on the observation that the conscious state has two main properties: it is differentiated from other possible conscious states, carrying therefore a huge amount of clarifying information and it is integrated (it does not occur independently from other conscious experiences)
The Consciousness Higher Order Theories claim in essence the following: a phenomenally conscious experience is a mental state that is or can be the object of a higher-order representation.
The Consciousness Biological Theories, which associate consciousness with the brain processes and states. An important contribution to this field of consciousness theories was brought by Gerard Edelman, an American biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize. He claimed that the human consciousness is a pure biological phenomena associated with complex cellular processes in the brain. According to him, the Darwinian theory provides a good frame for explaining the evolution of the consciousness and intelligence.
These are just a few of the consciousness theories developed so far. For sure none of them can provide a clear definition of the concept and a full understanding of the way our consciousness is functioning. But going through them is the starting point in understanding the complexity of the human being as a whole.
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