(Copyright © 2000 Piero Scaruffi | Legal restrictions - Termini d'uso )
Susan Greenfield provides a quick introduction to the problem of consciousness
(yet another "interdisciplinary" survey that misses most of the important
interdisciplinary theories) and a rehashing of her theory of gestalts
(see Greenfield Susan: THE HUMAN MIND EXPLAINED).
Since it is gestalts that originate consciousness (the bigger a gestalt, the
more aware we are), Greenfield grants a degree of consciousness to any living
being that is equipped with a nervous system capable of creating gestalts.
(She does not quite explain why the gestalts have to be built by nervous
systems as opposed to computers or sand or water, and thus they are limited
to animals).
She thinks that the ultimate explanation of consciousness (how electrochemical processes in physical matter turn into the feelings and emotions of our coscious life) is impossible. All we can do is study how one corresponds to the other, but we will never fully comprehend how one turns into the other. |