Can Neuroscience Explain Conciousness?
Francis Crick and Christof Koch are both neuroscientists who have tried to explain the human mind in respect to consciousness. In their essay, Why Neuroscience May Be Able to Explain Consciousness, they state when people talk about consciousness, there is something to be explained. They feel they have reason to study this consciousness in ways that others usually fall short. “Most consider it to be a philosophical problem, and so best left to philosophers. They concede that it is a scientific problem, but think it is premature to study it now.” (Crick and Koch) Crick and Koch have taken these two outlooks and have viewed at them in the exact opposite light. They emphasize the time to start the scientific attack is now. They are right in their assertion, but must present it in a much more acceptable level. Maybe to do this they must wait to present their ideas until it is ready for comprehension by the majority. The human mind is so extremely finite; understanding is reliant upon the willingness to comprehend. Scientific study is a wondrous thing, but the means of expressing the thoughts in a way that all understand can be the most challenging. People seem to want to believe only if they can relate to the thoughts
Crick and Koch state the following: Everyone has a rough idea of what is meant by being conscious. For now, it is better to avoid a precise definition of consciousness because of the dangers of premature definition. Until the problem is understood much better, any attempt at a formal definition is likely to be either misleading or overly restrictive, or both. If this seems evasive, try defining the word "gene." So much is now known about genes that any simple definition is likely to be inadequate. How much more difficult, then, to define a biological term when rather little is known about it. (Crick and Koch) I feel Crick and Koch add clarity to dimensional thinking through their thoughts here. They understand the ‘dangers of premature definition.’ They know how much worse off they become when people do not want to comprehend what they are trying to address. It is almost a means of lowering your level of intellectual understanding to try to be able to communicate those things that you already understand to someone that is unfamiliar with such things. At the same time it is a true test of how much you really do know on the subject. I feel Crick and Koch find themselves in the same kind of boat. They have the understanding ‘until the problem is understood much better,’ basically meaning until society is so well versed in the problem that you have passed beyond the initial state of doubt and actually begun the understanding portion. There seem to be only a couple ways that society becomes willing to accept something new. Either they open their mind, willing to listen and understand or they hear it over and over again, repeated until their subconscious takes control and they give in. The only way we can see the next dimension is to first believe it is there, and this entails opening the mind and allowing ourselves to believe. of others. I like to think of this as dimensional thought. Edwin A. Abbott in
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Approximate Word count = 1306
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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