Intentionality
Philosopher John Searle talks about intentionality ("the capacity of the mind to be directed at or to be about or of objects and states of affairs of the world other than the mind...") and consciousness, which he believes are the most important prop...
Reason, Reflection and Language
Philosopher Daniel Dennett talks about the power of language. He observes that it is language that gives humans the ability to look into the future, as well as to reflect and reason in ways other organisms cannot.
Is Mind Distinct from Body?: Reductionism and Consciousness
The subjective first-person nature of conscious experience resists being explained in objective third-person terms. There may be objective things going on in the brain, but what is truly interesting is what happens subjectively. Materialists compare...
Consciousness
Social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji talks about the concept of consciousness. Dr. Banaji explains that she thinks of consciousness as having four properties: awareness, control, intention and self-reflection
Emotion and Cognition
Psychologist and author Paul Ekman explains that, while "...cognition is always there during emotion," there's generally no consciousness of cognition in the process of emotional experience. Dr. Ekman adds that there are, however, exceptions, such a...
What is Real?: Idealist's View of Reality,The
Writing somewhat later in the Scientific Revolution, Bish George Berkeley sought to crush the threat that materialism posed to religion by arguing that reality is made up entirely of ideas. Since we know about the world only through the ideas or sen...
The Great Mystery: What is Consciousness
Six psychologists grapple with the definition of consciousness. Their attempts to explain consciousness range from calling it a state of perceptive awareness to characterizing it as an inner experience that is unique to each individual. This is such...
The Great Mystery: Discounted Theories of Consciousness
Although it is widely accepted that a person's mental life is caused by neurobiological processes in the brain, we have no real understanding of how the brain gives rise to consciousness, or what brain processes are specifically responsible. The ide...
The Great Mystery: Stages of Sleep
Sleep and dream research is part of the scientific study of consciousness. Both the body and brain are quite active during sleep. The frequencies and amplitudes of the EEG recorded during sleep reveal two primary types of sleep: REM sleep (rapid eye...
Computers, Consciousness and the Brain
Philosopher Daniel Dennett compares computers, which perform billions of operations sequentially, with the human brain, which Dennett calls a staggeringly complex structure capable of performing enormous numbers of operations simultaneously. As part...