Tesis Magíster
The life of an infinite task. The problem of conscióusness in paul natorp's general psychology
Author
Pringe, Herán
Universidad Diego Portales
Institutions
Abstract
INTRODUCTION. Among the fundamental concepts of Westem philosophy, consciousness has played a prominent role. For this reason, it is no wonder that the concept of consciousness is still one of the most used concepts in our Westem culture. Nowadays we talk of consciousness in severa! fields. We talk ofconsciousness in the context of the natural sciences (neurobiology, cognitive science ), we make use of the concept in the social sciences (Psychology, Psychoanalysis ), and we also make use of the concept of "moral consciousness" in ethical discussions. And not long ago, it was even common to talk about an aesthetic consciousness. And of course we still discuss consciousness in the wider field of contemporary academic philosophy. But in spite of the different meanings that could be given to theconcept of consciousness, there is one thing that all these fields have in common. In the concept of consciousness we must deal with an uncomfortable situation: we use the concept because it seems necessary for the understanding of our activities, yet we have no certainty about what we mean whenwe make use of it. If the reader has any doubt on this point, she simply needs to ask herself: "well then, what is consciousness?" Thus, it is no mystery that the concept of consciousness persists nowadays, as it were, as an open, inscrutable concept. However, what still remains a mystery, so to speak, is the relation between the open character of the concept and its prominence in the history of the Westem thought. Due to its renowned inscrutability, the concept of consciousness became a central problem for contemporary philosophy. For the different branches of contemporary philosophy, and particularly for the analytic philosophy of mind, the concept of consciousness began to play a systematic role. The concept of consciousness, in fact, is not one concept among many, but rather the principal issue for these philosophies. Now, despite the diverse perspectives among these branches, there is one main way of understanding conscwusness that has rapidly become the way: naturalism. Whether they arematerialists, constructivists, conductivists or cognitive scientists, contemporary philosophers agree that "consciousness" is a natural, physical fact of our biological condition. In this regard, the neurobiologistand Nobel prize recipient Eric Kandel states that "toda y, most philosophers of mind agree that what weBcall consciousness derives from the physical brain."Upon the base of naturalism, the discussion of consciousness adopts different forms andpurposes. While there are those who claim that consciousness can be defined by examining theBbiological function of our brain, there are those who see in consciousness nothing more than an illusionproduced by the actions of the neural system. Usually, those who argue in favor of a theory of consciousness deal with the following questions.