| FORM: | ARTICLE |
| Author: | Natsoulas, Thomas |
| Affiliation: | U California, Davis |
| Title: | Consciousness. |
| Source: | American Psychologist, 1978 Oct, 1978. 33 (10): p.906-914 Reference. |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | Thesaurus terms: Consciousness States Psychological Terminology General Topics: APA Journals |
| Added Keywords: | definitions of consciousness & scientific concept formation |
| Classification Code: | Consciousness States (2380) |
| Population Terms: Human | |
| Abstract: | Reviews attempts to define consciousness and suggests that scientific theory is the best method to explore this concept. The following 7 definitions of consciousness from theOxford English Dictionaryare discussed: joint or mutual knowledge, internal knowledge or conviction, awareness, direct awareness, personal unity, normal waking state, and double consciousness. It is concluded that the last definition may be the most valuable since it requires that consciousness be defined according to situations. This is considered to lead to the integration of 2 or more basic senses and to scientific concept formation at a new level of sophistication. (64 ref) ((c) 1999 APA/PsycINFO, all rights reserved) |