>>21407609I often contemplate the nature of consciousness. I find it appealing the prospect that conscious is nothing more than a mental illusion, comparable to a hallucination. It is comforting to believe that that is all there is.
Can an unconscious being believe itself to be conscious? If so, how can we be so sure that we humans really do experience consciousness? All of our attempts to characterize it rely on the assumption that it exists and that we are experiencing it. But the notion of consciousness continues to elude science, and until we can escape materialism, if we ever can, I do not see any way forward.
Many people, including social scientists, choose lesser definitions of consciousness, such as one's ability to regulate one's own attention (cognitive control), the ability to perceive the world through stimuli (sentience), or knowledge of one's own existence (sapience). But could anyone seriously consider these to be satisfactory definitions of consciousness? Perhaps there are people who do not experience even the illusion of consciousness. From an absolutist perspective, is it not then morally acceptable to treat such people inhumanely, as though they are mechanical automata? (I am moral relativist, however.)
