Abstract

Reference, 2002 Consciousness Studies Joseph A. Goguen Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of California at San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0114 Consciousness studies is a new, rapidly evolving, highly interdisciplinary field. Disciplines involved include psychology, philosophy, physics, sociology, religion, dynamic systems, mathematics, computer science, neuroscience, art, biology, cognitive science, anthropology, and linguistics. Even in the early 1990s, most scientists considered consciousness taboo, but now many consider it the most important unsolved problem in science. Consciousness is also a key issue in the ongoing dialogue between science and religion. The dominant view of consciousness in the hard sciences is of course materialist and reductionist. This has had important successes, but it also has important unresolved problems. For example, the biologist Francis Crick wrote, "You're nothing but a pack of neurons" [Crick, 1994]

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