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Theory of Consciousness

Decent Essays

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.

This awareness is sometimes said to arise out of arousal some stimulation that causes us to register the experience both in the present and record it for memories. It seems to me that some of this awareness is involuntary. I become aware of the wind whistling outside of the window because it arouses my senses, but there are sounds in the background that did not receive that arousal; nevertheless, I heard them and if pushed and prompted to recall them later I may well be able to do just that.

Consciousness is also impermanent, in more than one way. Internally-focused consciousness drifts constantly, so that we are aware of different things inside of our

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