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Single Idea 2391

[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / b. Essence of consciousness ]

Full Idea

Consciousness is always accompanied by awareness, but awareness as I have described it need not be accompanied by consciousness.

Gist of Idea

Can we be aware but not conscious?

Source

David J.Chalmers (The Conscious Mind [1996], 1.1.5)

Book Ref

Chalmers,David J.: 'The Conscious Mind' [OUP 1997], p.28


A Reaction

One should consult Chalmers, but he is stretching the English word 'awareness' rather far. This road leads to saying that thermostats are 'aware', and information is aware of its content, which is probably very wrong indeed. Compare Idea 2415.

Related Idea

Idea 2415 In blindsight both qualia and intentionality are missing [Chalmers]


The 12 ideas with the same theme [the defining aspect of being conscious]:

We can understand thinking occuring without imagination or sensation [Descartes]
Consciousness is shaped dialectically, by opposing forces and concepts [Hegel, by Aho]
Pure consciousness is a sealed off system of actual Being [Husserl]
Sartre says consciousness is just directedness towards external objects [Sartre, by Rowlands]
Consciousness always transcends itself [Sartre]
Consciousness and experience of qualities are not the same [Armstrong]
Heidegger showed that passing time is the key to consciousness [Derrida]
The mind experiences space, but it is not experienced as spatial [Searle]
An organism is conscious if and only if there is something it is like to be that organism [Nagel]
Is consciousness a type of self-awareness, or is being self-aware a way of being conscious? [Gulick]
Can we be aware but not conscious? [Chalmers]
Consciousness is a process (of neural interactions), not a location, thing, property, connectivity, or activity [Edelman/Tononi]