On what neuroscientists say of consciousness, you might want to look at Susan Greenfield's The Private Life of the Brain and SQ: Spiritual Intelligence by Zohar and Marshall. Damasio and Calvin are good on this, too. These people can't
agree on the causes of consciousness, but they do recognize it as a distinctive function, evidently involving many regions simultaneously.

From: DBlazer325@aol.com
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 13:34:28 EDT
To: pvalev@bas.bg
Cc: coble@hyde.uchicago.edu (Kim Coble), science@lists.pdx.edu
Subject: consciousness

to whom it may concern:
The question of human consciousness is best answered in terms of brain
function. If there is no brain, there is no consciousness. More
specifically, over the last sixty years, researchers have found that
different parts of the brain do specific things. Speech, spatial
perception, sight, tactile sensation and motor function are all specifically
located. An example is sight. Besides the regular and necessary neural
path for sight, there is a more primitive sight path for avoiding being hit.
The result of that is one can be blind, but still avoid limbs from hitting
face. More significantly, there is the death of a person when their heart
stops. But, brain function can be lost in pieces, resulting in a person not
having full brain function. Physical death and brain death is confused.
Injury and age can result in brain damage. This brain damage implies less
capability. People loose mental capability and l! oose the full perceptive
consciousness before they finally die. With death, the consciousness ends.
Full consciouness may have ended before the physical death.
Respectfully,
Dorman