This course provides a multidisciplinary introduction to consciousness, integrating two major philosophical traditions—the Anglo-American (e.g., Hume, Locke) and Continental (e.g., Kant, Hegel, Freud). We first examine neurobiological foundations of conscious states, including wakefulness, arousal, and altered states, with emphasis on the reticular activating system, its principal nuclei, and the roles of key neurotransmitters. We then turn to selfhood: the development of self-awareness and sentience from both phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives, milestones in cognitive development, theory of mind, agency, and the causal role of mental representations. Building on this, we consider game-theoretic and economic approaches to consciousness, including insights from consumer behavior. The course also surveys experimental methods—especially work on the neural correlates of consciousness—and concludes with clinical perspectives, covering conditions such as hemispatial neglect, out-of-body experiences, schizophrenia, phantom limb, akinetopsia, and anosognosia. Throughout, we argue that consciousness is not a single phenomenon, but a multifaceted construct best understood through an interdisciplinary lens.
INTRODUCTION
1) Philosophical tradition
1.1) Anglo-saxon
1.2) Continental
1.3) Scientific
1.1.1 Reticular Activation System
1.1.2 Monoaminergic system
1.1.3 EEG
1.1.4 The Glasgow coma scale
1.1.1 Return of consciousness:
1.1.2 Conscious movement intentions:
1.1.3 EEG biomarkers of consciousness in locked-in and coma patients.
1.2) Continental
1.2.1 The 5 sources of evidence for self
1.2.2 Gallup test: The Mirror Test, Gordon G. Gallup, Jr., James R. Anderson, and Daniel J. Shillito
1.2.3 Theory of mind
1.2.4 TPJ
2) Scientific study of consciousness
2.1 Sensation – Perception
2.2 Top-down, bottom-up
2.3 V1 – V2 – V3,V4: Speed of processing in the visual system: Simon Thorpe
2.4 Visual awareness
2.5 Visual Illusions (inaccessible visual mechanisms)
2.6 Somatosensory
2.7 Signal detection (ROC) Psychometric and Neurometric functions
2.8 Postdiction:
3) Disorders of consciousness
3.1 Hemiparietal neglect
3.2 Phantom limbs
3.3 Anosognosia (Dunning–Kruger effect)
4) Quantifyning Conscioiusness
4.1 Structural conditions of consciousness
4.2 Networks, small worlds and information
4.3 Integrated information (Tononi)
4.4 Olaf Sporns Connectome, Functional and effective connectivity:
At the end of the course, the learner will be able to discern different aspects of consciousness.
The learner will be able to recognize different philosophical traditions and theoretical approaches to consciousness. The learner will acquire the vocabulary of consciousness research and philosophical conventions.
The learner will be able to evaluate critically new proposals and theories of consciousness.
Finally, the learner will be able to articulate the challenges of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
Undergraduate level biology, psychology, philosophy, or neuroscience.
Recommended:
Daniel C. Dennett Why and How Does Consciousness
Sung Ho Jang and Young Hyeon Kwon Consciousness and the ascending reticular activating system
Bjorn Merker Consciousness without a cerebral cortex. a challenge for neuroscience and medicine
Salma Salhi,Y, Youssef Kora,Y, Gisu Ham, Hadi Zadeh Haghighi, Christoph Simon Network analysis human structural connectome incl brainstem
Josef Parvizi and Antonio R. Damasio Neuroanatomical correlates of brainstem coma
“Alejandro Osorio-Forero
, Najma Cherrad , Lila Banterle , Laura M. J. Fernandez and Anita Lüthi ” When the Locus Coeruleus Speaks Up in Sleep
E. Garcia-Rill, T. Virmani J.R. Hyde, S. D’Onofrio, PhD1, and S. Mahaffey Arousal and the control of perception and movement
J.AlanHobson Slep_is_of_the_brain_by_the_brain_and_for_the_brain
J. Allan Hobson and Karl J. Friston Consciousness, dreams and inference
J. Allan Hobson, Edward F. Pace-Schott, and Robert Stickgold Dreaming and the brain
Simon Boag On Dreams and Motivation_Comparison of Freuds and Hobsons Views
Robert Stickgold Finding the Stuff that Dreams are Made Of
Robert Stickgold, Dana Whidbee, Beth Schirmer, Vipul Patel, and J. Allan Hobson Visual Discrimination Task Improvement_Sleep
Vincent Bonhomme, …,Steven Laureys and Olivia Gosseries General Anesthesia A Probe to Explore Consciousness
Jaakko W. Långsjo ̈, .., Antti Revonsuo, and Harry Scheinin Returning from Oblivion_Imaging the Neural Core of Consciousness
George A Mashour,… , Michael S Avidan, Max B Kelz Recovery of consc and cognition after general anesthesia
Christoph Guger, …,Woosang Cho and Vincenzo La Bella Complete Locked-in and Locked-in
Hans J. Markowitsch, Angelica Staniloiu Memory autonoetic consciousness and self
WALLACE L. CHAFE Language and Consciousness
Jeremy I. Skipper The neurobiology of language and consciousness
Lucilla Cardinali, …, Alice C. Roy and Alessandro Farnè Proprioception Body Schema Deafferented Patient
… total of 34 articles.
Lectures, open discussions, and student presentations — if fewer than 15 students enroll.
Transcript of records