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Long time ago I was very interested in this. I came to the conclusion that introspection is fruitless, although now I have forgotten the arguments. An interesting starting question is: Where is mind? In the brain or somewhere else? Today's cognitive science explicitly assigns it to the brain but I think that this is a methodological mistake. In my view, Spinoza's view is closest to the truth - mind consists in the same material processes natural sciences deal with, but interpreted in a different way. Some idea about this "different way" may be obtained from the standard experiment in which, before giving food to the animal, a lamp is switched on. This is repeated many times, and in the end the animal's mind IDENTIFIES the lamp and the food - it may leak the lamp occasionally. Natural sciences describe the sequence of material processes in the triangle lamp-animal-food. For mind, and also for an adequate theory of mind, the sequence consists in the identification lamp = food. If developed, this approach can explain many things - e.g. primitive religions creating idols in accordance with the scheme stone = god. In a sense, the great philosophical systems repeat the development of mind - with its illusions, confusions etc. That is all I can remember for the moment.

Pentcho

Trevvett/Hamilton wrote:
> To: Science List members.
>
> Question: What do you think of human consciousness?
>
> One of my next books will explore the nature & definition of
> consciousness, and I would value your input (with attribution of
> course).
>
> A psychological research analyst & educator since 1960, I have come to
> appreciate the opinions of individuals dedicated to reason and
> objectivity.
>
> One of his biographers wondered what would have happened if Einstein had
> aimed his mind internally rather than externally, toward the observer
> instead of the observed. I wonder what will happen if we give it a try.
>
> I wish to address human consciousness a priori, as Giordano Bruno
addressed cosmology. I seek your view of a mind observing itself.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Geoffrey Hamilton