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A REFLEXIVE SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS. ... Without further ado, therefore, let me turn
to the consequences of the Reflexive model for a science of consciousness. ...
... is a neuronal construct: The pre-reflexive self-intimacy ... will certainly make for
good science, even if ... unduly; however the study of human consciousness is the ...
... to propose a precise definition of consciousness, but we ... Symbolic Worlds states,
however, that science purports to ... tap into and use our reflexive responses to ...
... Stream-of-consciousness plays a very important role ... languages in his increasingly
self reflexive fiction. ... Frolics in Ireland." Christian Science Monitor 93.129 ...
... survey motif to a more speculative, reflexive model of research (as a parallel to
the consciousness theories of ... Or as: ?The theory or science of the ...
Submitted by 2pretty2expln87 on November 1, 2006
Category: Psychology
Words: 3857 | Pages: 16
Views: 341
Popularity Rank: 20,480
Average Member Grade: N/A (Add a Comment / Grade this Paper)
ABSTRACT
Classical ways of viewing the relation of consciousness to the brain and physical world make it difficult to see how consciousness can be a subject of scientific study. In contrast to physical events, it seems to be private, subjective, and viewable only from a subject's first-person perspective. But much of psychology does investigate human experience, which suggests that classical ways of viewing these relations must be wrong. An alternative, Reflexive model is outlined along with it's consequences for methodology. Within this model the external phenomenal world is viewed as part-of consciousness, rather than apart-from it. Observed events are only "public" in the sense of "private experience shared." Scientific observations are only "objective" in the sense of "intersubjective." Observed phenomena are only "repeatable" in the sense that they are sufficiently similar to be taken for "tokens" of the same event "type." This closes the gap between physical and psychological phenomena. Indeed, events out-there in the world can often be regarded as either physical or psychological depending on the network of relationships under consideration.
However, studying the experience of other human beings raises further complications. A subject (S) and an experimenter (E) may have symmetrical access to events out-there in the world, but their access to events within the subject's body or brain is asymmetrical (E's third-person perspective vs S's first-person perspective). Insofar as E and S each have partial access to such events their perspectives are complementary. Access to S's experience is also asymmetrical, but in this case S has exclusive access whereas E can only infer its existence. This has not prevented the systematic investigation of experience, including quantification within psychophysics, psychometrics, and so on. Systematic investigation merely requires that experiences be potentially shared, intersubjective and...
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