Physicist Carlo Rovelli recently proclaimed that consciousness is just another physical thing, while materialist philosophers argue that consciousness is simply one brain state observing another. What such views miss, argues Manfred Frank, a leading figure in contemporary German philosophy, is that consciousness comes with a built-in awareness of itself—an awareness that exists prior to any introspection or observation. Consciousness does not observe itself in the way we observe objects; rather, it dissolves the distinction between observer and observed altogether. This is why consciousness cannot be simply another object in the world, but instead exists in an entirely different dimension.
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If we had no consciousness our lives would be devoid of meaning. We have been immersed in this medium since before we were born and remain in it even in our dreams. And we do so without any effort on our part. Apart from when it is interrupted by deep sleep or we are unconscious after fainting or during anaesthesia, we remain in this state or are enveloped in it throughout our entire lives. Nothing is more familiar to us than consciousness; it is so familiar that we rarely notice it or attend to it.
1) Consciousness is only a CATEGORY-term which we use — when we talk about different topics in connection with perception/attention/awareness.
Therefore scientists/philosophers we up to now not able to explain what ´consciousness´ is.
2) For our survival is it sufficient to have the ability for a ´conscious perception´.
For a ´conscious perception´ is it only necessary to have a neural activity which is above a threshold (e.g. EEG Alpha-activity > 8 Hz)
´Conscious perception´ and ´consciousness´ are terms with a different meaning
3) We should think about the difference of 3a) I have a thought/experience, 3b) I am a thought/experience.
Ti distinguish 3a and 3b is very important — because with 3b it is possible to understand and explain what QUALIA is.
4) In Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) we can perceive DIRECT, LIVE, CONSCIOUS how a single stimulus/thought/exxperience is processed by the brain — step-by-step.
This is a direct access — as a conscious perception — to the working brain. But up to now NDEs are not a topic for brain-/memory-research.
We will never understand how the brain is working and what consciousness is — when we ignore the direct access to our experiences, as we can have it with NDEs
(I have published already since 2006 a complete explanation of NDEs ! )