Nature Of Consciousness Book Report

Chapter two, “Biology of Mind and Consciousness” by David G. Myers and C. Nathan Dewall is a chapter that I can best relate with. The five main points of this chapter are; Biology and Behavior, Neural Communication, Nervous System, the Endocrine System, and the Brain. These points all revolve around how are bodies are made of the smallest of neurons and cells that combine to send out signals to all the other parts of our bodies to make it work harmoniously. Psychologists believe that psychological is biological. (Myers and Dewall, pg. 30) Exploring the nerve cells to the brain shows how our thinking and emotions contributed by our brain and health. These five key points show how each part relates to the other and combined make up our internal

Native Americans believed that we are and should be one with Mother Nature. Many believes stem from them being so Intune with the wind, ground, tress/plants and animals. They believe that everything is connected and to be fully connected they needed to have these special ceremonies. These ceremonies included peyote and strong tobaccos to reach true enlightenment and to become one with yourself. Also in these ceremonies you typically are on a journey to find yourself or see things you need to strengthen within yourself. Since I have started mediating and looking further in depth about meditating, I have learned that many feel that you cannot reach true enlightenment in ordinary consciousness. I believe that this “ordinary consciousness” is somewhat

For years, Artificial Intelligence has posed the question, what it means to be human, and more specifically the nature of consciousness. When confronted with the issue of the relationship between the mind and the body, the most likely argument is that both exist independently of each other but have a two-way relationship. However, recent advancements in machine learning, the technical algorithms that make up artificial intelligence, have suggested that this is not true. It is important to explore whether artificial intelligent agents are really capable of having these “minds” to achieve consciousness, even when they are built of physical components, such as codes. Up to this point in evolution humans are the only ones to achieve consciousness, however recent progression in artificial intelligence provides the possibility to prove otherwise. Consciousness must be defined with the possibility of bringing forth different theories. Defining consciousness and the relationship between the mind and material body will not only teach us more about artificial intelligence, but more importantly about the human condition and implications on personhood. One example of this would be AlphaGo, an artificial intelligence program built by Google that beat the world champion, Lee Sedol, in the Chinese game of Go. The game is said to demand high-order thinking and intuition to master  it, both of which require a mind ,  as there are trillions of potential moves possible, with the most optimal

Before reading Mindsets by Carol S. Dweck, I should reflect on how I feel about the

In the wake of slavery, the black body is constantly under attack. The hold co-exists within the wake of slavery. According to Christina Sharpe, college professor, author of In the Wake on Blackness and Being, (2016) “The wake; a state of wakefulness and a state of consciousness” (pg. 5). Being in the wake of slavery means one still faces the negative effects it and is aware of the negative affects it has on the black community. The hold co-exists in the wake of slavery and the black body is inhibited by this hold. Sharpe defines the hold as, “A large space in the lower part of a aircraft in which cargo is stowed (of a ship or aircraft); keep or detain (someone)” (p. 68). In the hold, the black body has been introduced, taught, ingrained and continues this idea of the language of violence. Through the actual hold of the ship during the Middle Passage, to the perception of blacks which also holds the black body, and to the engrained idea of the “masculine black body” which keeps queer black bodies in their own hold. In this paper, I will examine the intersectionality of blackness and queerness which is being held in the wake of slavery.

One of the ways an individual can understand cultural diversity is by creating a meaningful and genuine relationships with people who are from different cultures. Cultural diversity is an important phenomenal for teachers in training to become familiar with and I believe it is for this reason that the Education Department at Medgar Evers College has as one of its eight-unit standard Personal and Global Consciousness. The department under this standard expects teachers in training to examine, deconstruct, and reconstruct their own and others beliefs, values and perspective, to understand their own cultures, and to develop empathy and acceptance towards others culture. Teachers wishing to work in New York City

My own theory of consciousness is a state of awareness of self. It has been said that this awareness stems from arousal. Consciousness, to me, is entirely internal. We experience the external world, but only through our senses. Dehaene and Naccache (2001) explain that neuroscience is beginning to investigate and understand the "neural underpinnings of consciousness." Thus, consciousness is something that we experience via our own bodies. However, there is an implied separation between experience and consciousness. Animals and plants also have mechanisms for interacting with the world, but they do not appear to have the same neural underpinnings that them to interpret the world with the same awareness that humans have. We, however, not only experience the external world, but we are aware of that experience.

U.T. Place argues in Is Consciousness a Brain Process? The claim sensations are brain processes is logically possible. In other words, the claim itself has no contradiction built in it. Place hypothesizes the truth of the claim is contingent. Identity statements are neither necessarily true nor false. So, scientific research might reveal phenomena of consciousness are brain processes.

The explanation of consciousness given by William James and Laura King differ greatly in their delivery and content. Beginning with James’ explanation of consciousness, he starts by explaining his definition of “self”. He goes on to explain how the body and mind are not the only constituents of the self but also one’s family, friends, residence, etc. James then discusses the “active” element of consciousness which processes the perception of sensation by granting or withholding arousal. This idea parallels the explanation of arousal given by King where she states that arousal is the second part of the conscious which regulates awareness. James then goes on to describe how the stream of conscious cannot objectively become aware of its “pure”

To fully understand the complexity of consciousness, it must be defined. However there is no universal accepted definition due to the concept is looked at from many different positions and in different terms. In this essay which will explore altered states affecting consciousness, the definition which will be used is ‘One is aware of surroundings, and is able to make decisions and the ability to apply different experiences to different situations’.

The topic of near-death experience has brought forth a debate on how the brain is connected to the consciousness. Two hypotheses, the materialist view and the dualist view, have been suggested. One claims that the brain creates the consciousness and the other that the brain interprets the consciousness. In the following paragraphs, I plan to address the hypothesis put forth by authors Greyson and Calvi-Parsetti, the hypothesis I feel best follows both the SEARCH criteria and the criteria of adequacy, and why I feel the opposing hypothesis lacks a solid foundation.

The statements “I have a guilty conscious” and “My conscious eating me alive” are phrases that have been giving physical meaning by everyday people. What has not been given merit is the imaginable state of consciousness or ones conscious. Are the statements true or just simply a saying with no meaning?

Since the Scientific Revolution, humanity has adhered to a supposedly reasonable rationalist philosophy—characterized by a preference for reasoning over experience—which inevitably arises in impersonal fields such as the sciences. Although science avoids preternatural speculation on principle, quantum theory’s implications alter the fundamental way in which we understand what is at a quantum level, and such a revelation transcends any reifications participated by preceding generations. Fortunately, English philosopher Owen Barfield’s Saving the Appearances transcends temporal reality, bridging 1965 and 2015, while his book serves as a template through which we begin to

alone, and no one knows how many sentient beings exist in the galaxy, or in

The theory of double consciousness can help describe the similarities and differences between both works from Garvey and Hughes. This theory came about long after Garvey and a shortly after the birth of Hughes. W.E.B DuBois was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and his belief in not settling for the standard set by white people made him a revolutionist and someone with passion to shake things around. The concept he presented focused on the fact that the black identity had been devalued for so long that even blacks perceived themselves as such. This theory represents the struggle and in these two poems, the double consciousness theory