Open Systems and Consciousness. A Philosophical Discussion
Author: Ingarden R.S.1
Source: Open Systems and Information Dynamics, Volume 9, Number 2, 2002 , pp. 125-151(27)
Publisher: Springer
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Abstract:
The proposition of the author is that sentences about sentences (meta-sentences or sentences of the 2nd order) about physical phenomena are examples of conscious thinking, i.e. the elements of consciousness. The argument is that psychical phenomena (acts of thinking or imagination) are phenomena of the second logical type: phenomena of phenomena. In other words, the individual psychical world (the world of individual consciousness) is described by a meta-theory of physics (meta-physics), while the social world (the world of social culture) can be described by a meta-meta-physics, i.e., by doubled-type description by means of sentences two logical types higher than those of the physical world. The objects in the physical world (particles, bodies, animals, persons, etc.) are defined as open systems, relatively isolated in a hypothetical physical closed universe, i.e., open systems having internal and external energy of interaction. The role of subconscious activity of the brain is also considered and explained, as well as the importance of genes and hormones for an emotional proto-language in animals and humans, and of the human language as a social software being the base for proper human consciousness. The aspect of open systems is here only slightly touched. It will be discussed in more details elsewhere.
Language: English
Document Type: Regular paper
Affiliations:
1:
Institute of Physics, N. Copernicus University Grudziadzka 5, 87-100 Toru
, Poland, Poland">
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