What is consciousness?

Scientists and philosophers are focusing more intensely than ever on the nature of our human experience, resulting in a newly coalescing field of Consciousness Studies that has become a worldwide and highly interdisciplinary phenomenon. Toward a Science of Consciousness marks the first major gathering -- a landmark event -- devoted entirely to unlocking the mysteries of consciousness. It explores the whole spectrum of approaches from philosophy of mind and dream research, to neuropsychology, pharmacology, and molecular dynamics, to neural networks, phenomenological accounts, and even the physics of reality. The aim is to lay a sound scientific foundation for future research while also reaching consensus on many scattered areas of inquiry. Following an overview, fifty-five chapters are divided into ten sections: philosophy, cognitive science, medicine/pathology, neurology, neural networks, subneural biology, quantum theory, non-locality in space and time, hierarchical organization, and phenomenology.

Recent attempts to answer this question have motivated two interdisciplinary conferences sponsored by the University of Arizona in Tucson. The first volume of Toward a Science of Consciousness is now considered a resource book for the emerging field. This volume presents a selection of invited papers from the second conference, held in April 1996. The book's fifteen sections demonstrate the broad range of fields now focusing on consciousness. The sections include philosophy, cognitive science, medicine, neurobiology, neural correlates, vision, sleep and dreaming, anesthesia, molecular biology and evolution, quantum theory, spacetime, hierarchial organization, and experiential approaches. Each section is preceded by an overview and commentary. The participants include Bernard Baars, Ned Block, David J. Chalmers, Patricia S. Churchland, Daniel C. Dennett, Jeffrey Gray, Daniel Hillis, J. Allan Hobson, Stephen LaBerge, Jaron Lanier, Daniel S. Levine, Nikos K. Logothetis, Gary E. Schwartz, John R. Searle, Roger N. Shepard, Henry P. Stapp, Petra Stoerig, Charles T. Tart, John Taylor, Francisco J. Varela, Max Velmans, Roger Walsh, and Lawrence Weiskantz.