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The Concept of Consciousness
Author(s) -
Natsoulas Thomas
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal for the theory of social behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.615
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1468-5914
pISSN - 0021-8308
DOI - 10.1111/1468-5914.00091
Subject(s) - consciousness , feeling , referent , psychology , social consciousness , perception , mode (computer interface) , epistemology , cognitive science , electromagnetic theories of consciousness , stream of consciousness (narrative mode) , cognitive psychology , social psychology , philosophy , linguistics , computer science , operating system , narrative
Considered here is the last one of the six basic concepts of consciousness that The Oxford English Dictionary identifies in its several entries under consciousness . The referent of the sixth concept, which I call “consciousness 6 ”, is rightly understood to be a certain general operating mode of the mind. Any psychological account of consciousness 6 must distinguish this operating mode from (a) the “particular consciousness or awarenesses”, i.e., the specific thoughts, feelings, perceptions, intentions, and the like (including William James's succession of total states of consciousness), that occur while the mind is so operating, and from (b) the other, alternative, general operating modes of the mind: such as those that are sometimes in force in place of consciousness 6 , when one is awake.