Advaita asserts that the only thing which is certain and apodictic is the evidence of consciousness for any claim that we make – whether we claim that we know something or the claim that we do not know something. All sources of knowledge are dependent on consciousness: whatever be the source of consciousness, be it perception, or inference, or scripture, it presupposes consciousness as its ultimate source. That which is the presupposition of every kind of knowledge and of every source of knowledge
How does one know who they are? Consciousness in interpreted in various aspects. In BBC’s documentary The Secret You, Marcus du Sautoy, the narrator, focused his attention on consciousness research. Marcus met with several psychologists and neurologists to learn about their research and participated in demonstrations in an attempt to explain this complex scientific wonder. Marcus first wanted to explore when we first become aware of ourselves. He delved into answering this question by examining
who they are as a form of consciousness. Consciousness is the basis of memory, but the soul cannot be lost as a form of permanent state that is part of Nature: “I say, in all these cases, our consciousness being interrupted [by forgetfulness], and we losing the sight of our past selves, doubts are raised whether we are the same thinking thing, i.e. the same substance or no” (Locke 139). In this instance, the nature of forgetfulness describes the inability of the consciousness to remember past lives
At a general level, theories about the nature of the mind can be separated into three categories: monistic theories, dualistic theories and non-standard theories. I prefer dualistic theories over monistic theories and non-standard theories. According to dualism, the mind and body are two different properties. In this paper I will be describing dualism in general, and I will be analyzing emergentism and epiphenomenalism and explaining which view one might want to hold. Explication of the view Dualism
From Buddhism point of view, “Rebirth occurs through consciousness or stream of consciousness and then become a new combination of aggregates.” More specifically, according to “Sandhinirmocana Sūtra” in Mahayana Buddhism, this essence of a beings can be seen as the store consciousness ( ālaya-vijñāna) in the eight consciousness (Skt: aṣṭa-vijñāna-kāya) because it clings to and hides in the body in the sense of sharing the body's same "fate"
In Gloria Anzalduas text “Towards a New Consciousness”, she presents a solution to the issue of social division and self perception. Her theories promote the idea of unification among different races and cultures, and seek to develop a new social and cultural consciousness which embodies all cultures. The text opens by referencing Jose Vasconcelos, a Mexican author and philosopher, and states that there is a new race which is the product of all the other races combined, and from this "confluence
The psychoneural identity theory, or identity physicalism, holds that mental states can be identified with physical processes in the brain (Kim 97). While this theory makes sense in terms of its simplicity and logic, it does not explain why our mental states can be traced back to physical processes. We can make a list of these psychoneural correlates, but this does not contribute to our understanding of why these correlations hold, or why they even exist (Kim 303). Physicalists have taken an approach
ate of Consciousness during Sleep Sara Kim Consciousness is the quality or state of being aware especially of something within oneself, and is believed to be a steady stream of thoughts, emotions, and perceptions. Though, being conscious isn’t just having your eyes open, there are many different stages. Consciousness can be thought of in two different categories; monitored and controlled. Monitoring is focusing one’s awareness on any outside event, while control is organize the thoughts
book was written with an intention to explore the connection between the mind and the brain. The book is interesting for the commoners as well as the neurologists and it has survived decades as one of the famous works analyzing the theory of mind, brain and consciousness. This essay will review this book in three parts, the first concentrating on the gist of the book, second the various debates
point in time. Nagel introduces the essential problem of the reductionists as an inability to grasp the meaning of consciousness in an organism. Nagel argues that “fundamentally an organism has conscious mental states if and only if there is something that it is like to be that organism” (Nagel, 404). In other words, the vast unique experiences of an organism constitute consciousness. Through this early example, Nagel is presenting the basis of