Why Does Consciousness Exist

"Of all the objects in the universe, the human brain is the most complex. There are as many neurons in the brain as there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy.", a quote from an issue of a Discover magazine article. But what comes from this complexion? The answer is thought. Consciousness has been quarreled between writers, scientists, priests, atheists and everyone in between. The priest says it is divine and cannot be explained, the atheist says no - it’s evolution. The writer romanticizes it, creating characters that contain the free will of the author but have more unrealistic complexion than any real human character. Scientists explain that we are in a state of awareness and that consciousness cannot be entirely explained as it is subjective and objectively, it cannot be measured. Human existence has transcended from being a simple organism living with survival instincts: hunting and gathering food for our kin, to working boring jobs to feed the family and to have just enough leisurely time to assure yourself not to jump off the nearest building to end it all. The question is - can an organism become complex enough to consciously choose what they believe is morally right with free will. Do we live for others or ourselves? Does consciousness actually exist and how do we prove it?

Tomorrow we celebrate the Day of the Dead--a ceremony where a society pays homage to those who have passed, and planted their seeds in the lives of others. Our ancestors influence us and the lessons they have passed down throughout generations; however, not all lessons were the same. All were influenced by their time period and personal sense of morality. That influence was then conveyed to their child--or whoever was willing to listen. These stories are what provided us with culture.

According to Martin Schonfield in “Animal Consciousness: Paradigm Change in the Life Sciences” “In the old analytic climate, claims that animals are sentient raised methodological and ideological problems and seemed debatable at best.”(Schonfield p. 1) Claims that animals were self-aware or intelligent were regarded as unfounded. “The task of science in the past four centuries had been to demythologize the past.”(Schonfield p.1) Daniel C. Dennett in “Animal Consciousness: What Matters and Why” states “that speculating about animal consciousness makes no sense.” (Dennett p.19) He wonders why we need to know about animal consciousness at all. I disagree with Dennett and will explore the possibilities of animals actually experiencing

The apex of human existence is to uncover what is human existence or further what is the reason anything exists and especially what does it mean to have conscious thought; in other words, to find out what it means to be human. This can be further expand upon on as what is everyone’s individual purpose and how would those purposes change based on the social, economic, and political situations which vary between person to person and even civilization to civilization. Does being human mean one is just an animal with conscience thought or is the reason behind why consciousness something much more than pure natural selection, because according to the theory of evolution natural selection is only a need to either help keep the moto of survival of

Consciousness is your awakened state of mind in which you are cognizant of and are able to distinguish between realities while also being preemptive to one’s thoughts, emotions, and feelings through the establishment of the fundamental aspect of student-object relationships in which one is not only aware and mindful of his surroundings, but oneself as well at any given moment as the present renders sentiments of familiarity, presumably rectifying preconceived notions that consciousness is merely an illusion and is rather more so a universal force and a collective body of existence and self-realization.

In 1838 Charles Darwin wrote in his journal "Man in his arrogance thinks himself a great work worthy the interposition of a deity. More humble and I think truer to consider him created from animals". (Rachels, 1990) Daniel C. Dennett refers to Darwin's theory of evolution as a universal acid, a theory so powerful it seeps through every traditional concept and leaves behind a revolutionized world-view, resulting not only in a fundamental shift in the way in which we perceive ourselves as human beings, but more importantly, in the death of God. (Dennett, 1996) The moral implications of evolution are devastating: to reduce man to a by-product of an algorithmic process is to say that man is nothing

In his text “What is it like to be a bat?” of 1974 Thomas Nagel claims that consciousness is the

Disagreement about whether theory of mind emerged around 40,000 years ago to as far back as 200,000. Baron-Cohen (1999) proposes that homo sapiens emerged complete with theory of mind. Mithen (1998), using evidence from studies on apes,

Describe what evolutionary psychologists mean when they employ the term ‘theory of mind’. Use examples and research studies from Book 1, Chapter 2 to show why this theory is important in evolutionary psychology.

“Many people are afraid of Emptiness, however, because it reminds them of Loneliness. Everything has to be filled in, it seems—appointment books, hillsides, vacant lots—but when all the spaces are filled, the Loneliness really begins.” (p.147)

The chapter states that if animals are conscious, their conscious level probably varies from the simplest feelings to thinking about the common problems they can face, and ways to avoid it.

Consciousness is both an effect and a cause: it is the cumulative effect of our thinking, and it is because of our consciousness that we experience life as we do. Not surprisingly, we find a similar view of consciousness in the writings of Judge Thomas Troward, a pillar of New Thought whose teachings influenced Ernest Holmes. Troward taught that when an end is secure in mind, the means to that end is also secure. However, let us not delude ourselves into thinking that because we have something in mind, that we will necessarily have it in hand; nor should we try to ignore the fundamental difference between grasping an idea, and grasping at an object. Although securing a thing in mind is a necessary precursor to securing the experience of it in the world, the mental equivalent is not the physical fact. It is difficult, if not impossible, to recognize a good thing when you see it, if you do not already have in mind the knowledge, belief, image and understanding of what is good for you. Consequently, until we are able to secure our good, mentally, we are not able to embrace, embody, express and experience that good as a fact of our life. Fortunately though, both the end we have in mind, and the means to it, are aspects of one 's consciousness, and by having the end securely in mind we do have the means to that end. This is somewhat similar to the fact that when we know our destination, the necessary means of travel is also known. For instance, if we intend to cross a room, we

The early development of human consciousness seems to have given humans a genetic predisposition to the belief in religion. During this early development many chemicals known as entheogens were used during religious sacraments and ceremonies, especially during times when religion was undergoing critical stages of development. Once early humans could communicate concepts effectively they utilized experiences derived from such substances in the integration of theological belief systems.

Consciousness allows a person to recognize their existence, and subsequently, to form their essence. The

The essential properties of consciousness have been matters of philosophical debate since the 1600s, when Descartes proclaimed that mind and brain were separate substances. But recently, scientists and doctors have started asking