Functions of consciousness

Seth, Anil (2008) Functions of consciousness. In: Elsevier Encyclopedia of Consciousness. Elsevier.

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Abstract

A major challenge for the successful naturalization of consciousness lies in locating its biological function, or functions. Although common sense suggests that conscious experience has many important functional roles in our lives, experiments and theoretical arguments challenge these everyday intuitions. This chapter begins with some necessary conceptual ground-clearing, reviewing the possibility that consciousness does not have a function and dealing with ambiguities in the meaning of ‘function’ and of ‘consciousness’. We then consider a range of putative functions for consciousness, covering both cognitive perspectives and proposals grounded in neural dynamics. Finally, we consider the possibility that consciousness may have multiple functions.

Comments/Discussion

This chapter provides a comprehensive review of issues surrounding functions of consciousness.

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