Recently, I stumbled upon a Youtube video dubbed, “What is Self-Consciousness”, where the youtuber (I am sorry but I couldn’t find his name), delved into the nature of self-awareness and consciousness itself. This lead me into a rabbit hole analyzing and researching how various philosophies viewed consciousness (both as mental and physical phenomena). However, in this Mantra101 blog post, I just wanted to explicitly define a general definition on what the concept of consciousness is. The term “consciousness” is ubiquitous, encountered in the realms of science, philosophy, literature, and everyday discourse. But what does it mean? What constitutes consciousness? And why has it remained one of the most debated, studied, and yet unresolved questions in human history? It’s important to remember that consciousness is a topic that has no true definition, but it is important to be knowledgeable about its generally accepted nature.

At its core, consciousness refers to awareness. This could be awareness of external stimuli (like seeing a tree or hearing a song) or internal thoughts and feelings (like recalling a memory or experiencing pain). Consciousness encompasses a broad spectrum of experiences – from the most mundane, such as feeling the texture of your shirt, to the profound, such as pondering the mysteries of the universe.

From a scientific standpoint, especially in neuroscience, consciousness is often tied to the functioning of the brain. Researchers study brain waves, neural networks, and specific brain regions to discern patterns linked with conscious experience. However, the biological basis of consciousness and how subjective experiences arise from brain activity remains an open question.

Philosophers have dissected the nature of consciousness for millennia. Some questions include:

• Is consciousness merely a byproduct of physical processes, or is it fundamental?
• Can non-human animals be conscious?
• How does one’s subjective experience of the color red, for example, arise from neural processes?

For example, the philosopher Thomas Nagel once pondered what it’s like to be a bat – highlighting the deeply subjective and individual nature of consciousness, which makes it difficult to describe or understand fully from an external perspective. But, we will dive into these varying definitions and notions soon in our next blog post.