• Question: What is consciousness?

    Asked by to Daren, Lynne, Phillip, Simon on 18 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Simon Redfern

      Simon Redfern answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      That is a very deep question, and one that has excited the thoughts of people for thousands of years. It is linked to what is it to be alive? I am afraid that humans start to struggle when they try and work out their own workings. While sleep and unconsciousness are familiar, and wakefulness and thoughtfulness also familiar, working out what is actually going on beyond mechanistic observations of electrical impulses in the brain still seems to be very difficult to define and understand.

    • Photo: Daren Fearon

      Daren Fearon answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      In medicine consciousness is to do with being awake and responsive but philosophically it is a big concept that is hard to define as it is very subjective. Some describe it as the ability to feel, perceive and be aware of things.

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