Three Facets Of Consciousness

Author: Smith D.W.

Source: Axiomathes, Volume 12, Numbers 1-2, 2001 , pp. 55-85(31)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Over the past century phenomenology has ably analyzed the basic structures of consciousness as we experience it. Yet recent philosophy of mind, looking to brain activity and computational function, has found it difficult to make room for the structures of subjectivity and intentionality that phenomenology has appraised. In order to understand consciousness as something that is both subjective and grounded in neural activity, we need to delve into phenomenology and ontology. I draw a fundamental distinction in ontology among the form, appearance, and substrate of any entity. Applying this three-facet ontology to consciousness, we distinguish: the intentionality of consciousness (its form), the way we experience consciousness (its appearance, including so-called qualia), and the physical, biological, and cultural basis of consciousness (its substrate). We can thus show how these very different aspects of consciousness fit together in a fundamental ontology. And we can thereby define the proper domains of phenomenology and other disciplines that contribute to our understanding of consciousness.

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Publication date: 2001-01-01