scholarly journals Archaeology of Human Consciousness: An Integrated Narrative of Cognitive Evolution from the Preanthromorphic Mind to Humanity’s Contemporary, Academia-Centric Culture

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (03) ◽  
pp. 201-248
Author(s):  
Eric Bond
Keyword(s):  
Human Consciousness ◽  
Cognitive Evolution

In defense of human consciousness.

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph F. Rychlak
Keyword(s):  
Human Consciousness

Review of In defense of human consciousness.

1997 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-333
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Aanstoos
Keyword(s):  
Human Consciousness

The Dialogical concept of consciousness in L.S. Vygotsky and G.H. Mead and its relevance for contemporary discussions on consciousness

2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leszek Koczanowicz
Keyword(s):  
Activity Theory ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Human Consciousness ◽  
Cultural Activity ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
The World

The Dialogical concept of consciousness in L.S. Vygotsky and G.H. Mead and its relevance for contemporary discussions on consciousness In my paper I show the relevance of cultural-activity theory for solving the puzzles of the concept of consciousness which encounter contemporary philosophy. I reconstruct the main categories of cultural-activity theory as developed by M.M. Bakhtin, L.S. Vygotsky, G.H. Mead, and J. Dewey. For the concept of consciousness the most important thing is that the phenomenon of human consciousness is consider to be an effect of intersection of language, social relations, and activity. Therefore consciousness cannot be reduced to merely sensual experience but it has to be treated as a complex process in which experience is converted into language expressions which in turn are used for establishing interpersonal relationships. Consciousness thus can be accounted for by its reference to objectivity of social relationships rather than to the world of physical or biological phenomena.

Excursus

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Schlieter
Keyword(s):  
Life Review ◽  
Human Consciousness ◽  
Niklas Luhmann ◽  
Search For Meaning ◽  
Thomas Nagel ◽  
Philosophical Interpretation

This chapter, an excursus, embarks on a more philosophical interpretation of consciousness and experience. Building on Thomas Nagel and Niklas Luhmann, it is argued that human consciousness, defined as a process of self-reproduction of never-ending new possibilities, is perplexed by the task of imagining its own nonexistence. Given that consciousness is not equipped for this task, that is to imagine death (its own nonexistence), it will react with a search for meaning, a context for the existential threat. The excursus argues that this leads to the highly accelerated activity of consciousness. It may result in a phenomenon reported by a certain number of near-death experiencers, namely, the life review. In short, then, the life review is a highly accelerated search for meaning. These deliberations are further substantiated by a comparison with “wake-up dreams,” in which a similar structure becomes visible.

scholarly journals Social Cognitive Evolution in Captive Foxes Is a Correlated By-Product of Experimental Domestication

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Hare ◽  
Irene Plyusnina ◽  
Natalie Ignacio ◽  
Olesya Schepina ◽  
Anna Stepika ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Cognitive Evolution

Patents, Governance and Control: Ethics and the Patentability of Novel Beings and Advanced Biotechnologies in Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-542
Author(s):  
Aisling McMahon
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Patent Law ◽  
European Patent ◽  
Human Consciousness ◽  
Patent Holder ◽  
Patented Invention ◽  
Patent Grant ◽  
And Control

AbstractThis article focuses primarily on to what extent novel beings, and particularly, beings which display something akin to human consciousness or agency would be (or should be) patentable under current European patent law. Patents grant the patent holder a right to exclude others from using the patented invention for the period of patent grant (usually 20 years). This allows the patent holder to control how that invention can or cannot be used by others downstream, granting patent holders a governance like function over the patented technology for the duration of the patent. Accordingly, the potential for patentability of novel beings gives rise to a myriad of ethical issues including: to what extent is it appropriate for patent holders to retain and exercise patents over “novel beings”; how issues of “agency” displayed by any “novel beings” would fit within the current patent framework, if at all; and to what extent existing exclusions from patentability might exclude patents on “novel beings” or whether changes within patent law may be needed if patents in relation to “novel beings” are deemed ethically problematic. This article focuses on such issues, and in doing so, also sheds light on the role of ethical issues within the patenting of advanced biotechnologies more generally.

scholarly journals Awareness and integrated information theory identify plant meristems as sites of conscious activity

PROTOPLASMA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Trewavas
Keyword(s):  
Information Theory ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Complex Networks ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Biological Function ◽  
Human Consciousness ◽  
Extrinsic Information ◽  
Integrated Information Theory ◽  
Conscious Activity ◽  
Integrated Information

AbstractLacking an anatomical brain/nervous system, it is assumed plants are not conscious. The biological function of consciousness is an input to behaviour; it is adaptive (subject to selection) and based on information. Complex language makes human consciousness unique. Consciousness is equated to awareness. All organisms are aware of their surroundings, modifying their behaviour to improve survival. Awareness requires assessment too. The mechanisms of animal assessment are neural while molecular and electrical in plants. Awareness of plants being also consciousness may resolve controversy. The integrated information theory (IIT), a leading theory of consciousness, is also blind to brains, nerves and synapses. The integrated information theory indicates plant awareness involves information of two kinds: (1) communicative, extrinsic information as a result of the perception of environmental changes and (2) integrated intrinsic information located in the shoot and root meristems and possibly cambium. The combination of information constructs an information nexus in the meristems leading to assessment and behaviour. The interpretation of integrated information in meristems probably involves the complex networks built around [Ca2+]i that also enable plant learning, memory and intelligent activities. A mature plant contains a large number of conjoined, conscious or aware, meristems possibly unique in the living kingdom.

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