science

Understanding Consciousness

Understanding Consciousness is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Understanding Consciousness rather than just read about it. In short: Understanding Consciousness (2000) is a book by Max Velmans, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, which combines an account of scientific studies of consciousness with a perspective from the philosophy of mind. The book was shortlisted for the British Psychological Society book of the year award in 2001 and 2002.

Key takeaways

Understanding Consciousness belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Understanding Consciousness to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Understanding Consciousness from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Understanding Consciousness (2000) is a book by Max Velmans, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, which combines an account of scientific studies of consciousness with a perspective from the philosophy of mind. The book was shortlisted for the British Psychological Society book of the year award in 2001 and 2002. Philip Pullman called it "one of the clearest and most elegant accounts" he had seen of the topic.

Synopsis Part 1 reviews the strengths and weaknesses of all currently dominant theories of consciousness, in a form suitable for undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers, focusing mainly on dualism, physicalism, functionalism and consciousness in machines. Part 2 gives a new analysis of consciousness, grounded in its everyday phenomenology, which challenges presuppositions that form the basis of the dualism versus reductionist debate. It also examines the consequences for realism versus idealism, subjectivity, intersubjectivity and objectivity, and the relation of consciousness to brain processing. Part 3 gives a new synthesis, with a novel approach to understanding what consciousness is, and a novel approach to what consciousness does that pays particular attention to the paradoxes surrounding the causal interactions of consciousness with the brain. It also introduces reflexive monism, an alternative to dualism and reductionism that aims to be consistent with the findings of science and with common sense. Both reductionism and dualism are guilty, Velmans asserts, of not paying enough attention to the phenomenology of consciousness, the condition of being aware of something. Reductionism, for example, attempts to reduce consciousness to being a state of the brain; thus consciousness is nothing more than its neural causes and correlates. This, Velmans says, is guilty of breaking Leibniz's assertion that, in order for A to be identical to B (that is, for consciousness to be a state of the brain), the properties of A must also be the properties of B. Velmans here argues that the subjective, phenomenal experience of consciousness is entirely unlike the neural states of the brain, and thus may not be reduced to them; that is, the phenomenal properties of consciousness are not identifiable with the physical brain states that arguably cause them.

References

Further reading Velmans, M. (2000). Understanding Consciousness. London: Routledge/Psychology Press Velmans, M. (2009). Understanding Consciousness Edition 2. London: Routledge/Psychology Press

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Understanding Consciousness

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Understanding Consciousness claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Understanding Consciousness before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Understanding Consciousness ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Understanding Consciousness

In research: Understanding Consciousness appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Understanding Consciousness in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Understanding Consciousness is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2000 non-fiction books, Books about consciousness, Consciousness, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Understanding Consciousness outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Understanding Consciousness in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Understanding Consciousness means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Understanding Consciousness out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Understanding Consciousness in simple terms?

Why does Understanding Consciousness matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Understanding Consciousness?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Understanding Consciousness.