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JCS, 4( 1) 1997 , pp. 3-46
David J. Chalmers, Department of Philosophy, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. Email: chalmers@paradox.ucsc.edu
Response by author of the keynote paper to the multi-part symposium on the Hard Problem of Consciousness.
JCS, 4( 1) 1997 , pp. 47-66
James Newman, Colorado Neurological Institute, 740 Clarkson Street, Denver, CO 80218, USA. Email: Newmanjb@aol.com
Despite the whirl of controversy surrounding consciousness studies, there is real progress being made in cognitive science towards establishing an empirically rigorous theory of mind, in both its conscious and non-conscious manifestations. In this two-part article, beginning with a broad overview of clinical and experimental findings bearing on the neural correlates of conscious processes, the author traces the development of several related models that appear to converge upon a central `conscious system'. This extended reticular-thalamic activating system (ERTAS) has been increasingly implicated in a variety of functions associated with consciousness, including: orienting to salient events in the outer world; dream (REM) sleep; the polymodal integration of sensory processes in the cortex (binding); selective attention and volition. It is argued that the increasing convergence of models from clinical and experimental neuroscience is leading towards a general theory of consciousness which is both non-dualist and non- reductionist. Part II will appear in JCS, 4 (2), pp. 99-120.
JCS, 4( 1) 1997 , pp. 67-70
Walter J. Freeman, Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, LSA 129, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3200, USA. Email: wfreeman@garnet.berkeley.edu
Too little has been written about the biology of joy. Most of the articles in the medical literature about brains and emotions are devoted to explaining how we feel fear, anger, anxiety and despair. This is understandable, because we don't go to doctors when we are feeling optimistic, happy and joyful. Most of what we know about the chemistry of our emotions has been learned from the disorders and the treatments of people who are sad and depressed.
But we can't just accept this and say, `Why bother?', because too many of us are seeking to find joy by taking chemicals. We need to ask, `What happens inside our brains when we experience happiness? Is there a way to stimulate pleasure in our brains, and what really happens when we do that?'
JCS, 4( 1) 1997 , pp. 71-92
Ken Wilber, 6183 Red Hill Rd., Boulder, CO 80302, USA
An extensive data search among various types of developmental and evolutionary sequences yielded a `four quadrant' model of consciousness and its development (the four quadrants being intentional, behavioural, cultural, and social). Each of these dimensions was found to unfold in a sequence of at least a dozen major stages or levels. Combining the four quadrants with the dozen or so major levels in each quadrant yields an integral theory of consciousness that is quite comprehensive in its nature and scope. This model is used to indicate how a general synthesis and integration of twelve of the most influential schools of consciousness studies can be effected, and to highlight some of the most significant areas of future research. The conclusion is that an `all-quadrant, all-level' approach is the minimum degree of sophistication that we need into order to secure anything resembling a genuinely integral theory of consciousness.
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