History of the Science of Consciousness
IntroductionThoughtful observations of consciousness probably predate the earliest human writings, some two millenia ago. Aristotle, Plato, the Upanishads, and other ancient sources explored questions that scientists today still pursue, like mental imagery, meaning, perception, beliefs, emotional feelings, the experience of the beautiful, pain and pleasure, awareness of self and other, sleep and dreaming, the relation of mind and brain.
As psychology and brain science began to emerge about 1800, consciousness was discussed without fear. It is only in the early 20th century that it became a scientific taboo. Human consciousness is a natural bridge between the humanities and the sciences; the taboo in science may therefore have helped to perpetuate the well-known chasm between the Two Cultures, between the experience of being human and the effort to examine ourselves objectively.
Thus the scientific taboo has tended to be dehumanizing, to turn conscious human beings into mechanistic fantasies. Yet major discoveries accumulated through the last hundred years have vastly improved our understanding of wakefulness, sleep, dreaming, hypnosis, pain and pleasure, selective attention, sensory perception, animal consciousness and much more.
They are beginning to have important applications in medicine and education. We believe these discoveries are humanizing. At the end of the 20th century a movement began to lift the scientific taboo, and a modest trickle of empirical discoveries has now become a remarkable flood. Yet the normal infrastructure of science does not yet exist in the scientific study of consciousness.
New journals and societies have begun, but there is as yet no viable institutional basis for consciousness science as a discipline, to provide real continuity, a shared curriculum for students, a predictable career path, research funding, atradition of high standards of evidence along with openness to new discoveries, and a shared sense of mission. We do not yet have a living community of discourse. The scientific study of consciousness is not yet seen as a natural category, like the study of memory or perception.
Join in on the Writing on the History of Consciousness During the last few decades, consciousness has gained status as a valid area for scientific research. But the problem of consciousness and its relation to the human body, social interaction and other aspects of "established" scientific facts has many historical antecedents. Here, we invite you to join in on the writing on the history of consciousness science. All submissions must be sent to the Managing Editor. One of the obvious benefits of allowing multiple authors to make their contribution, is that those authors may be especially well suited or interested in the particular part of consciousness studies at hand. On the other hand, allowing people to discuss the matters freely on this forum might result in a balanced presentation of the matter. Thus, for every entry on the history of consciousness science, we urge you to send your comments and make additions to the text. Every entry will be fitted with the author's name and date for upload. Some examples of entries for the history of consciousness studies are "Early psychophysics", "Wilhelm Wundt", "Subliminal perception", and "Split brain". Thus, the history project might also end up as a dictionary of central issues in consciousness studies. Each submission should focus on historical matters, and especially how the issue at hand is relevant for the science of consciousness, as opposed to more philosophical matters. Your contribution is most welcome. |
