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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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-06-01
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Series: | Philosophies |
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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. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-10T23:38:40Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-7bb42fd88424434dabafd3002c5b51e4 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2409-9287 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-24T14:11:59Z |
publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
record_format | Article |
series | Philosophies |
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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