John Searle: Our shared condition -- consciousness

Summary

The speaker addresses the often-neglected topic of consciousness, emphasizing its importance as a fundamental aspect of human experience. They critique the slow progress in understanding consciousness and the reluctance within scientific and philosophical communities to engage with it. The speaker refutes the notion that consciousness is an illusion or merely a computer program in the brain, arguing instead that it is a biological phenomenon akin to digestion or photosynthesis. They provide a common-sense definition of consciousness as states of feeling, sentience, or awareness, and discuss its real, irreducible nature. The talk also tackles the mind-body problem, suggesting that conscious states are caused by and realized in the brain through neurobiological processes. The speaker asserts that consciousness has a causal role in behavior and is a unified field, creating an observer-independent reality. They conclude by advocating for the acceptance of consciousness as a legitimate subject for scientific inquiry.

Takeaways

• 🤔 Consciousness is often neglected in scientific and philosophical discussions despite being a fundamental aspect of our lives.
• 🧐 The progress in understanding consciousness has been slow, partly due to the reluctance and hostility within the scientific community.
• 📚 Two opposing traditions have shaped our view of consciousness: religious dualism, which sees it as non-physical, and scientific materialism, which questions its existence or relegates it to a computational process.
• 🧠 Consciousness should be considered a biological phenomenon, akin to photosynthesis or digestion, which can help dissolve many of the perceived issues related to it.
• 🚫 The claim that consciousness is an illusion or purely computational is incorrect, as it overlooks the semantic and observer-relative aspects of consciousness.
• 🫀 Conscious states are caused by and realized in the brain through neurobiological processes, similar to how liquidity is a property of water based on the behavior of H2O molecules.
• 🌈 Qualitative feelings are an inherent part of consciousness, providing a subjective experience that is different for various states and activities.
• 🧬 The mind-body problem is not as mysterious as it seems; our conscious states are both neurobiological and mental, representing a single event with multiple descriptions.
• 🔍 The unified conscious field, which integrates different sensory inputs into a single experience, is a key feature of consciousness that current robotics has not been able to replicate.
• ⚙️ Consciousness functions causally in our behavior through a sequence of neurobiological events, such as the secretion of acetylcholine at the axon end-plates of motor neurons.
• 🌟 Accepting consciousness as a biological phenomenon is crucial for scientific progress, allowing for a more objective and comprehensive study of this complex subject.

Q & A

Why does the speaker consider consciousness a neglected subject in both scientific and philosophical culture?

The speaker believes consciousness is neglected because it is the most important aspect of our lives, as it is a necessary condition for anything to be important to us, yet it often receives little attention in scientific and philosophical discussions.

What does the speaker initially think about the study of consciousness?

The speaker initially thought consciousness was a straightforward problem in biology that could be solved by neurobiologists once they focused their efforts on it.

What advice did a famous neurobiologist give to the speaker regarding the study of consciousness?

The famous neurobiologist advised the speaker to get tenure first before focusing on consciousness, implying that it was not a career-advancing field of study at the time.

According to the speaker, what are the two features of our intellectual culture that contribute to the reluctance and hostility towards consciousness?

The two features are religious dualism, which separates consciousness from the physical world, and scientific materialism, which also excludes consciousness from the physical world, either dismissing it as non-existent or as something non-physical like a computer program.

How does the speaker define consciousness?

The speaker defines consciousness as consisting of all states of feeling, sentience, or awareness, from the moment we wake up from a dreamless sleep to when we fall asleep, die, or become unconscious. Dreams are also considered a form of consciousness in this definition.

What does the speaker argue is the simple solution to the mind-body problem?

The speaker argues that all conscious states are caused by neurobiological processes in the brain and are realized as higher-level or system features of the brain, similar to how the liquidity of water is a condition of the system rather than an additional substance.

What is the first feature of consciousness that the speaker identifies?

The first feature is that consciousness is real and irreducible. It cannot be eliminated by arguing that it is an illusion, as the very existence of consciousness is tied to the subjective experience of being conscious.

What is the second feature of consciousness that causes so much trouble, according to the speaker?

The second feature is that all conscious states have a qualitative character to them, meaning there is a specific feel or experience associated with each state, such as the feeling of drinking beer versus doing income tax.

How does the speaker respond to the claim that consciousness is similar to a digital computer program running in the brain?

The speaker refutes this claim by stating that consciousness involves more than just symbol manipulation, it also has content and semantics. Furthermore, computation is observer-relative and does not exist independently of conscious agents.

What is the main message the speaker wants to convey in the lecture?

The main message is that consciousness should be recognized as a biological phenomenon, just like photosynthesis or digestion, and that it is subject to scientific analysis like any other biological phenomenon.

How does the speaker address the concern that consciousness cannot be studied scientifically because it is subjective?

The speaker argues that it is possible to have an objective science of consciousness. One can make objective claims about a domain that exists subjectively in the human brain, consisting of states of sentience, feeling, or awareness.

Why does the speaker consider behaviorism to be an embarrassment to intellectual culture?

The speaker views behaviorism as an embarrassment because it is refuted by the simple distinction between feeling a pain and engaging in pain behavior. The mistake of behaviorism, according to the speaker, is the assumption that accepting the existence of consciousness means giving up on science.