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Definition: consciousness from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary

(1629) 1 a : the quality or state of being aware esp. of something within oneself b : the state or fact of being conscious of an external object, state, or fact c : awareness; esp : concern for some social or political cause 2 : the state of being characterized by sensation, emotion, volition, and thought :mind 3 : the totality of conscious states of an individual 4 : the normal state of conscious life 〈regained ⁓〉 5 : the upper level of mental life of which the person is aware as contrasted with unconscious processes


consciousness

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Term applied to the highest level of self-awareness, also known as sentience. The state of being aware of oneself and one's surroundings develops as a consequence not purely of external events or phenomena, but also of emotions, beliefs, and mental events. It is a function of the brain and can be reduced or lost as a result of neurological conditions or physical damage; individuals who have completely lost this function are described as being in a vegetative state. There is no scientific explanation of consciousness and it is a much-discussed topic in philosophy and the concept of the mind. It generally refers to the human capacity for thought and an awareness of personality combined with the ability to understand original ideas and conceive abstract possibilities, such as the passage of time. Potentially any organism with a brain will possess a degree of self-awareness, varying according to the complexity of the brain. Awareness of surroundings, communication, problem solving, and…
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Full text Article Consciousness

From Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science
Consciousness refers both to wakefulness and to the contents of our experience. The subjective aspect of consciousness poses a philosophical problem for objective science . Since the early 1980s there has been a major effort to make better sense of consciousness. The current fascination with the…
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Full text Article Consciousness

From Encyclopedia of the Human Brain
Just what is consciousness? The answer, I believe, is that consciousness is an instinct 1 a built-in property of brains. Like all instincts, it is just there. You do not learn to be conscious and you cannot unlearn the reality of conscious experience. Someday we will achieve a more mechanistic…
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Full text Article Consciousness

From Human Diseases and Conditions
Consciousness is a person's awareness of his or her inner world, the most private place where thoughts and feelings are formed and impressions and experiences are processed . Here is a test: Try to write down all the steps you followed in getting dressed this morning. Did you put on your pants or…
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Full text Article Consciousness

From Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
Consciousness is the awareness of external stimuli and of one's own mental activity. Consciousness is defined as the state of being awake and aware of one's surroundings such as external objects and one's own existence, such as the ability to feel. It is also associated with such terms as awareness, …
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Full text Article CONSCIOUSNESS

From Dictionary of Visual Discourse: A Dialectical Lexicon of Terms
The qualitative state of being conscious, being awake and being aware. Awakefulness is thus thought to be a criterial property of human being-in-the-world. In ordinary usage the ability to engage in self-conscious activities is fundamental to human existence (which, of course, does not mean that…
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Full text Article CONSCIOUSNESS

From Epilepsy A to Z: A Concise Encyclopedia
Consciousness during seizures refers to the degree of awareness and responsiveness available to react to an external stimulus with an ability to partially recall internal or external events that have occurred. Responsiveness refers to the ability to follow commands, while awareness refers to recall…
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Loosely, this is the state (see s. 6 ) of awareness, as in ‘to regain consciousness’, of which we all should have an understanding. However, it might be a wise idea for psychology to leave the description of this term to philosophers. Some cognitive psychologists (although rarely the authors of…
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Full text Article CONSCIOUSNESS

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist …nowadays most people identify themselves almost exclusively with their consciousness, and imagine that they are only what they know about themselves. Memories, Dreams, Reflections Chapter XI (p. 300 ) Vintage Books. New York New York USA . 1970. American…
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Full text Article consciousness

From The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology
Generally, a state of awareness: a state of being CONSCIOUS (1). This is the most general usage of the term and is that intended in a phrase such as ‘he lost consciousness’. A domain of mind that contains the sensations, perceptions and memories of which one is momentarily aware; that is, those…
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Full text Article Consciousness

From Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy
Phenomenal consciousness . Conscious states such as pain states and sense experiences are such that it is “like” something for the subject of the state to be in them: they have a qualitative aspect, a phenomenological character. The what-it-is-like aspects of experiences are called qualia . Qualia…
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