Buddhism:
In Buddhism, consciousness-only (Sanskrit vijñapti-matrata, vijñapti-matra,
citta-matra; Chinese ?? pinyin wei xin) is a theory according to which
all existence is nothing but consciousness, and therefore there is nothing
that lies outside of the mind. This means that conscious-experience is
nothing but false discriminations, imaginations; a provisional antidote;
thus, the notion of consciousness-only is an indictment of the problems
the activities of consciousness engender.
Integral approach to consciousness:
Especially in his book Integral Psychology, Ken Wilber has attempted to
develop an integral approach to consciousness.
Functions of consciousness:
We generally agree that our fellow human beings are conscious and that
lower life forms such as bacteria are not. Many of us attribute consciousness
to higher-order animals such as dolphins and primates; academic research
is investigating which rather than whether animals are conscious. This
suggests the hypothesis that consciousness has co-evolved with life, which
would require it to have some sort of added value. People have therefore
looked for specific functions of consciousness. Bernard Baars (1997) for
instance states that “consciousness is a supremely functional adaptation”
and suggests a variety of functions in which consciousness plays a role:
prioritization of alternatives, problem solving, decision making, brain
processes recruiting, action control, error detection, planning, learning,
adaptation, context creation, and access to information. Antonio Damasio
(1999) regards consciousness as part of an organism’s survival kit,
allowing planned rather than instinctual responses. He also points out
that awareness of self allows a concern for one’s own survival,
which increases the drive to survive. Although how far consciousness is
involved in behaviour is an actively debated issue. Many psychologists,
such as radical behaviourists, and many philosophers, such as those who
support Ryle's approach, would maintain that behaviour can be explained
by non-conscious processes akin to artificial intelligence and might consider
consciousness to be epiphenomenal or only weakly related to function.
Tests of consciousness:
As there is still not a clear definition of consciousness, no empirical
tests currently exist to test consciousness as a whole. Some have even
argued that empirical tests of consciousness are intrinsically impossible.
However, some researchers have devised tests to detect what they feel
are certain aspects of consciousness. A test similar to this was used
in the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip
K. Dick to see if a person was a robot or an actual human. In the Ridley
Scott movie Blade Runner which was inspired by that book, the test is
known as the "Voigt-Kampf" test and tests the subject for empathy.
Turing Test:
Alan Turing proposed what is now known as the Turing test to determine
if a computer could simulate human conversation undetectably. This test
is commonly cited in discussion of artificial intelligence. The application
to consciousness is highly suggestive, but not clear. One is reminded
of Edsger Dijkstra's comment "The question of whether a computer
can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine
can swim".
Mirror test:
With the mirror test, devised by Gordon Gallup in the 1970s, one is interested
in whether or not animals are able to recognize themselves in a mirror.
Such self-recognition is said to be an indicator of consciousness. Humans
(older than 18 months), great apes (except for gorillas), and bottlenose
dolphins have all been observed to pass this test.