Building the Blocks of Being: The Attributes and Qualities Required for Consciousness

For consciousness to exist, an entity must have prerequisite characteristics and attributes to give rise to it. We explore these “building blocks” of consciousness in detail in this paper, which range from perceptive to computational to meta-representational characteristics of an entity’s cognitive...

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Main Authors: Izak Tait, Joshua Bensemann, Trung Nguyen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-06-01
Series:Philosophies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9287/8/4/52
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author Izak Tait
Joshua Bensemann
Trung Nguyen
author_facet Izak Tait
Joshua Bensemann
Trung Nguyen
author_sort Izak Tait
collection DOAJ
description For consciousness to exist, an entity must have prerequisite characteristics and attributes to give rise to it. We explore these “building blocks” of consciousness in detail in this paper, which range from perceptive to computational to meta-representational characteristics of an entity’s cognitive architecture. We show how each cognitive attribute is strictly necessary for the emergence of consciousness, and how the building blocks may be used for any entity to be classified as being conscious. The list of building blocks is not limited to human or organic consciousness and may be used to classify artificial and organisational conscious entities. We further explore a list of attributes that seem intuitively necessary for consciousness, but on further investigation, are neither required nor sufficient. The building blocks do not represent a theory of consciousness but rather a meta-theory on the emergence and classification of consciousness.
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spelling doaj.art-7bb42fd88424434dabafd3002c5b51e42024-04-03T09:07:27ZengMDPI AGPhilosophies2409-92872023-06-01845210.3390/philosophies8040052Building the Blocks of Being: The Attributes and Qualities Required for ConsciousnessIzak Tait0Joshua Bensemann1Trung Nguyen2The NAOInstitute, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New ZealandThe NAOInstitute, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New ZealandThe NAOInstitute, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New ZealandFor consciousness to exist, an entity must have prerequisite characteristics and attributes to give rise to it. We explore these “building blocks” of consciousness in detail in this paper, which range from perceptive to computational to meta-representational characteristics of an entity’s cognitive architecture. We show how each cognitive attribute is strictly necessary for the emergence of consciousness, and how the building blocks may be used for any entity to be classified as being conscious. The list of building blocks is not limited to human or organic consciousness and may be used to classify artificial and organisational conscious entities. We further explore a list of attributes that seem intuitively necessary for consciousness, but on further investigation, are neither required nor sufficient. The building blocks do not represent a theory of consciousness but rather a meta-theory on the emergence and classification of consciousness.https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9287/8/4/52consciousnesscognitiontheory of consciousnessmeta-consciousnessmeta-cognition
spellingShingle Izak Tait
Joshua Bensemann
Trung Nguyen
Building the Blocks of Being: The Attributes and Qualities Required for Consciousness
Philosophies
consciousness
cognition
theory of consciousness
meta-consciousness
meta-cognition
title Building the Blocks of Being: The Attributes and Qualities Required for Consciousness
title_full Building the Blocks of Being: The Attributes and Qualities Required for Consciousness
title_fullStr Building the Blocks of Being: The Attributes and Qualities Required for Consciousness
title_full_unstemmed Building the Blocks of Being: The Attributes and Qualities Required for Consciousness
title_short Building the Blocks of Being: The Attributes and Qualities Required for Consciousness
title_sort building the blocks of being the attributes and qualities required for consciousness
topic consciousness
cognition
theory of consciousness
meta-consciousness
meta-cognition
url https://www.mdpi.com/2409-9287/8/4/52
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