Original scientific paper

Consciousness: A Natural History

Maxine Sheets-Johnstone ; University of Oregon, Department of Philosophy, Eugene, USA

Abstract

This article shows how the proper question to answer concerning consciousness is not ‘how consciousness arises in matter’, but how consciousness is part and parcel of the evolution of animate forms. The article traces out just such an evolution by consideration of real life forms including bacteria and invertebrates. It vindicates the evolutionary thesis that external proprioceptive organs, as evidenced in their own right, were modified and internalized over time into kinesthetic organs, sustaining, in effect, a directly movement sensitive corporeal consciousness across virtually all forms of evolutionary life. The paper specifies significant consequences of the thesis having to do with the unconscious, with present-day focal studies of the brain that neglect a correlative natural history, and with the need to attend to corporeal matters of fact.

Keywords

animate forms; animation; responsivity; proprioceptive organs; kinesthesia; corporeal consciousness; surface recognition sensitivity; kinetic spontaneity; ‘know thyself’ as a biological built-in

Hrčak ID:

23577

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/23577

Publication date:

15.2.2008.

Article data in other languages: french german

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