Closer to Consciousness

Alexander Durig

Description

Closer To Consciousness presents the first strong theory of consciousness in plain language that anyone can understand.
In this book, Durig presents a full-blown theory of consciousness. By engaging contemplation of the possibility of two brain hemispheres operating as two brains interacting with one another and aware of one another, he claims that it is our brains existing in a System of Interactive Reflexivity (SIR), perpetually aware of the world and each other’s perception of the world, which is the cause of consciousness. He highlights the importance of social interaction for shaping consciousness into meaning, mind, self, language, and emotions, as well as noting weaknesses in the current paradigm.

Sujets

• Cognitive Psychology
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Psychology
• Cognition

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 12 février 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665579186
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

In 1992, Dr. Durig earned a PhD in social psychology from the sociology department at Indiana University, and then he taught at the university level until deciding to leave academics in 1999, one year before he was due to apply for tenure. He was in management and sales until 2006, when he became a self-employed business plan writer. All the while, he continued writing and publishing books about perception and autism, which are available at Amazon.com. This book extends upon his work in Social Inference Theory (SIT), which described the logic of social perception and autistic perception. In this book, he presents a full-blown theory of consciousness. By engaging contemplation of the possibility of two brain hemispheres operating as two brains interacting with one another and aware of one another, he claims that it is our brains existing in a System of Interactive Reflexivity (SIR), perpetually aware of the world and each other’s perception of the world, which is the cause of consciousness. He highlights the importance of social interaction for shaping consciousness into meaning, mind, self, language, and emotions, as well as noting weaknesses in the current paradigm.
 
© 2023 Alexander Durig. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7916-2 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7917-9 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-7918-6 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022923944
 
Published by AuthorHouse 02/10/2023
 
 
 

Dedication

For my daughter Lydia Alexandra, her husband Jon Bush, and my three grandsons, Lukah, Jaeden, and Ki eran

CONTENTS
Dedica tion
Informal Sayings by an Informal Logician
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Acknowledging the Legacy of Bernard Rim land
A Note of Grati tude
INTRODUCTION
From Prototheory to Metatheory to Th eory
Part I: Meaning, Autism, and Consciousness The COMING Paradigm Shift
Part II: From Theory To Reality
Part III: Answering The “So What?” Question
Chapter 1THE NEW SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Is Anything Mis sing?
Aware ness
Mea ning
Avoiding Confu sion
The Philosophy of Reflexive Interactio nism
The Significance of Reflexi vity
The Philosophy of Reflexive Interactio nism
Chapter 2MEANING AND AUTISM
The Circle of L ight
~ Themes in The New Science of Consciousness #1 ~
Introducing Social Inference Theory – SIT
Three Types of Logical Infere nces
What is deduction?
What is induction?
What is abduction?
The Back S tory
Focusing on the Assumptions of Norm alcy
The Social Event Frame and The Autistic Visual Theme F rame
Presenting the Event Frame for People with Social Perception
Presenting The Visual Theme Frame for People with Autistic Perception
~ Themes in the New Science of Consciousness #2 ~
First the Theme, Then the Action
The Parallel Unive rses
Chapter 3MEANING AND CONSCIOUSNESS
The Fundamental DOUBLY MISTAKEN Assumption of Consciousness Studies Today
Styles of Consciousness
The Fundamental Unit of Anal ysis
Voxels of Aware ness
Voxel
SIR
SYSTEMS OF INTERACTIVE REFLEXIVITY
The Triquation of Abduction
The Underlying Logic of L ogic
Revisiting Assumpt ions
Can We Talk?
Beware of Attacking Zombie Philosop hers
~ Themes in The New Science of Consciousness #4 ~
Bottom-Line Metatheoretical Assumpt ions
The Problem with Materialist Arguments
Solutioning the Problem with Materialist Arguments
Meet The Blob
~ Themes in The New Science of Consciousness #5 ~
Lewis Carroll on the Foundations of Logic
Ground-Floor Assumpt ions
Neurotypical Perception
Autistic Perception
Chapter 4SIT, SIR, AND CONSCIOUSNESS
Introducing SIR
Consciousness is not a T hing
AI = VAI
The Supreme Challenge of Talking about Difficult Subj ects
What Is It Like to Be Thomas N agel?
A Rebuttal to Nagel’s Argument
The Hard Ground Floor of Our Subjective Meaningful Perception
The Problem with the Hard Problem
Swimming in the Sea of Life
The Significance of Reflexivity
~ Themes in The New Science of Consciousness #6 ~
Chapter 5CONSCIOUSNESS SUPPORTS PERCEPTION
Consciousness Supports Subjective Meaningful Percep tion
Consciousness as 3D Awareness of Self and Others in the World
What are Thoughts and Feel ings?
Is Your ‘Self’ Just an Illu sio n?
~ Themes in The New Science of Consciousness #7 ~
The Nonconscious Ground of Conscious Tho ught
The Underlying Logic of Conscious Mental Processes and Nonconscious Mental Processes
Resolving the Problems of Split-Brain Research
Principles of D IANA
Lydia’s Standing Wave: How the Conscious Mind Relies Completely upon the Nonconscious Mind
Chapter 6THE PICTURES
The Genesis of Consciousness
The Genesis of Deductive Logic
The Genesis of Inductive Logic and Self
MIND-BASED LEVELS OF REFLEXIVITY
Level I Mind-Based Reflexi vity
Level II Mind-Based Reflexi vity
Level III Mind-Based Reflexi vity
Level IV Mind-Based Reflexi vity
Level V Mind-Based Reflexi vity
Chapter 7HOW DO WE EXPERIENCE TIME?
How Do We Experience the Passage of Time?
~ Themes in The New Science of Consciousness #8 ~
The Chinese Latt ices
The Genesis of Inductive Inference and Our Experience of Time
Brain-Based Levels of Reflexi vity
How We Experience Time
Brain-Based Levels of Reflexivity: 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5 …
Brain Plasticity and the Division of Labor between Conscious and Nonconscious M inds
Chapter 8HOW TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
The Problem Underlying the Problems Facing a Science of Conscious ness
Split-Brain Research
~ Themes in The New Science of Consciousness #9 ~
Redundant Connectivity
The Nonconscious Reality Underlying Conscious Minds
Confusion Manage ment
Chapter 9ROBERT LAWRENCE KUHN ON VIRTUAL IMMORTALITY
Breaking Down the Terms Being Used in Our Theory Construction Pro ject
Prototheory and Metatheory of Computational Mo dels
From Reality to Theory and Back
SIT and SIR Meet the Nine Schools of Consciousness Studies
~ Themes in The New Science of Consciousness #10 ~
The Integration of Social and Computer Thin king
Addressing the Metatheoretical Commitments Underlying the DSM
Addressing the Metatheoretical Commitments of a New Science of Conscious ness
“Closer to T ruth”
~ Themes in The New Science of Consciousness #11 ~
Revisiting Challenges to The New Science of Conscious ness
Problems with Semantics – Problems with The C- Word
Chapter 10FROM QUALE TO QUALIA THE C-WORD HAS BEEN A TRICKY WORD
Qualitative Mo dels
Registering the World vs Perceiving the W orld
Qualifying Consciousness: The Search for D IANA
CONCLUSION: CLOSER TO CONSCIOUSNESS
Epilogue A: A Quick Note about Assumptionalism
Epilogue B: SIT – Reviewing the Work
Epilogue C: The Microsociology of Autism (1993)
Dedica tion
Abst ract
Epilogue D: The Contributions of Social Inference Theory
Epilogue E: A Quick Note about Inferentialism
Epilogue F: Why did they call it Autism Spectrum Disorder?
Possible Futures of DSM Metatheory
Possible Futures of Metatheory for the Science of Consciousness
Epilogue G: The NIMH-Funded Pre- and Post-Doctoral Fellowships at IU
Refere nces
Endn otes
Informal Sayings by an Informal Logician
I. Consciousness is the universe’s way of getting to know itself.
II. The normal world is a crazy place.
III. Fish don’t know what water is.
IV. It’s not enough to know … you have to know that you know.
V. When you go to say the most meaningful things you ever have to say, you won’t be able to find the words.
VI. It’s all supposed to work out once in a while, and when it does, you know you’re cooking with gas.
VII. When people say the nicest things that they’ve ever said about you, you won’t be in the room to hear it.
VIII. The most important things, and the things that everyone wants and needs the most above all else, are not the obvious things like money or fame, it’s to be surrounded with trust, respect, safety, and comfort at all times.
IX. We like to credit ourselves for being the captains of our own ships, and the authors of our own actions and success, yet we do not even make our hearts beat and we do not make our lungs breathe at night when we are asleep.
X. The King of England has to say Please and Thank You and so do you.
XI. Life gets better and better and worse and worse at the same time.
XII. What the conscious mind believes, the nonconscious mind receives, as a command. The nonconscious mind is like a genie in a bottle that says, “Your wish is my command.”
XIII. Each of us does everything we do for the most meaningful reason possible at the time.
Foreword
Philosophy, cognitive science, and neuroscience perspectives or frames underlie most contemporary interest in the study of consciousness. I focus first on the way I came t