Bernard J. Baars’ Post

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Psychobiologist, author, originator of Global Workspace Theory, #GWT. I teach about science. It keeps me out of trouble.

Are abstract concepts conscious? Philosophers have noted for many centuries that we are conscious of the perceptual world in ways that differ from our awareness of concepts. Perception has qualities like color, taste, and texture. Concepts like "democracy" or "mathematics" do not. Abstract beliefs, knowledge, intentions, decisions, and the like, are said to be conscious at times. But can we really say that people are conscious of a belief that has no experienced qualities such as size, shape, color, or location in time and space? You, the reader of these paragraphs, are probably not conscious right now of the existence of democracy, but if I was to ask you whether democracy exists, this abstract fact will probably become consciously available. That is, we can contrast occasions when a concept is in memory but not "conscious" to the time when it is available "consciously." Thus, consciousness of abstract concepts seems to behave much like the conscious experience of percepts and images.

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