View source for Consciousness

'''Consciousness''' ({{LaS|conscientia}} "co-knowledge"; {{GrS|συνείδησις|syneidesis}} "co-appearance", "co-image", "co-knowledge", {{lang|grc|συναίσθησις}} ''synaisthesis'' "co-perception" and {{lang|grc|φρόνησις}} ''phronesis'', from {{lang|grc|φρονεῖν}} ''phronein'' "to be in one's senses, to think"; Early {{NHG|bewisst|to know, to know exactly}}; {{SaS|चित्}} [[Chit]]) is based, according to [[Rudolf Steiner]], {{"|''not on the fact that a being shows a certain counter-effect to an effect, but that the being experiences something within itself which is added to the mere counter-effect as a new thing.''||{{G|13|59f}}}} According to the [[anthroposophical]] view, consciousness unfolds and develops in a sequence of seven stages of consciousness, of which our present earthly waking consciousness represents the fourth and middle stage. Areas of consciousness that are less bright than the present waking consciousness of man and are not or only slightly grasped by the human [[I]] are called '''subconscious''' or, according to [[w:Sigmund Freud|Sigmund Freud]], '''preconscious''', insofar as they can be more or less easily raised to consciousness. If consciousness sinks below the level of dream consciousness, one commonly speaks of a state of '''unconsciousness'''. Nevertheless, dull degrees of consciousness are still present. 

== The seven stages of consciousness ==
{{Main|Stages of consciousness}}

From an [[anthroposophical]] point of view, consciousness unfolds in '''seven stages of consciousness''', which are closely related to the seven stages of [[world evolution]] described by [[Rudolf Steiner]]. They differ in the degree of their brightness of consciousness and in their scope of consciousness. The narrower the consciousness becomes, the brighter it appears and the more unreal it is at the same time. The first level of consciousness, as all-consciousness, encompasses the whole world, but is correspondingly so dull that it is also called trance consciousness or death consciousness. The mineral world still has this consciousness today. Somewhat brighter and at the same time narrower is the dreamless sleep consciousness, which today is peculiar to plants. These first two levels of consciousness are today completely attributed to the unconscious. This is probably the reason why "the hard problem of consciousness"<ref>[[w:David Chalmers|David Chalmers]]: ''The Character of Consciousness.'' Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010, ISBN 978-0195311112, p. 39</ref> confronts the neurosciences with a seemingly insoluble riddle. Only the more or less dream-like consciousness, which animals also have in varying degrees of brightness, is considered conscious or at least semi-conscious by many researchers today. But the bridge between bodily processes and consciousness phenomena is not found.

At present, we as human beings stand on the fourth level of consciousness, in which the I-consciousness is forming. It has the brightest degree of consciousness of all the stages of consciousness developed so far, but has completely lost its character of reality and has become an ineffective mirror image. Precisely because of this, however, it can also form the basis for human freedom.

{{GZ|Here, you see, lies that difficulty which philosophers continually encounter, and which they cannot overcome with their philosophy, the main difficulty. Nothing else is given to these philosophers at first but that which they imagine. But remember that being is pressed out of the imagination, out of the content of consciousness. It cannot be in it, for what is in consciousness is only a reflection. Being cannot be in it. Now the philosophers seek being through consciousness, through ordinary physical consciousness. They cannot find it that way. And it is quite natural that such philosophies had to arise as Kant's, for example, which seeks being through consciousness. But because consciousness, quite naturally, can only contain images of being, one can come to nothing other than to acknowledge that one can never approach being with consciousness.|162|31}}

Contemporary philosophers and consciousness researchers such as [[w:Daniel Dennett|Daniel Dennett]] or [[w:Susan Blackmore|Susan Blackmore]], who deny the reality of actual human consciousness and ultimately want to explain it away altogether, are definitely more correct than those who still grant today's consciousness an autonomous authority. Although they end up in pure materialism for the moment, at the same time they also help to get rid of the flimsy false dualistic body/soul ideas that have had a lasting influence on Western culture and still make it no less difficult to understand the real [[spirit]] than materialism.

Beyond the present mirror-image-like waking consciousness, three higher levels of consciousness will develop later, which will result from the three preceding levels of consciousness being gradually penetrated by the brightness of the [[I-consciousness]]. They will only unfold their full effectiveness on the planetary [[world evolution]] levels following the [[Earth evolution]]. Through appropriate spiritual training, however, they can already be anticipated to a certain extent today. 

The following [[seven levels of consciousness]] are distinguished in [[anthroposophy]]: 

:# [[Trance consciousness]], All-consciousness ([[Old Saturn]]) 
:# [[Sleep consciousness]], Dreamless consciousness ([[Old Sun]]) 
:# [[Image consciousness]], Dream consciousness ([[Old Moon]]) 
:# [[Waking consciousness]], Object consciousness, [[I-consciousness]]  ([[Earth]]) 
:# [[Psychic consciousness]], conscious Image consciousness, [[Imagination]]  ([[New Jupiter]]) 
:# [[Supra-psychic consciousness]], conscious Sleep consciousness, [[Inspiration]]  ([[New Venus]]) 
:# [[Spiritual consciousness]], conscious All-consciousness, [[Intuition]]  ([[Vulcan]])

According to [[Rudolf Steiner]], this will be followed by another five levels of consciousness, but we cannot talk about them today. Altogether, then, there are twelve levels of consciousness.

{{GZ|After the [[Vulcan]]ic stage, the human being will also develop further and then climb even higher levels of consciousness. Just as the outer eye looks into the misty grey distance, the inner eye of the seer looks into the distance of five more forms of consciousness, of which, however, a description is quite impossible. So, on the whole, we can speak of twelve stages of consciousness.|11|161}}

All effects in the world, as Rudolf Steiner emphasises, ultimately emanate from [[spiritual being]]s who live in different states of consciousness. In their consciousness, to which man can rise through higher knowledge, lies the original source and the actual substance from which reality is woven. All being is ultimately consciousness:

{{GZ|It is good to note that basically there is nothing else in the universe but consciousness. Apart from the consciousness of some beings, everything else ultimately belongs to the realm of the Maja or the great illusion. You can gather this fact from two passages in my writings in particular, and also from others, but especially from two passages: first, from the description of the total evolution of the earth from Saturn to Vulcan in "An Outline of Occult Science", where the progression from Saturn to the Sun, from the Sun to the Moon, from the Moon to the Earth and so on, is described, at first only in states of consciousness. That is to say, if one wishes to ascend to these great facts, one must ascend so far in world affairs that one has to do with states of consciousness. So one can actually only describe consciousnesses when one describes realities. From another passage in a book that appeared this summer, "The Threshold of the Spiritual World", the same thing can be gathered. There it is shown how, through gradual ascension, the seer's vision rises from what spreads out around us as things, as processes in things, how all this, as it were, disappears as a nullity and melts away, is destroyed, and finally the region is reached where there are only beings in some state of consciousness. So, the realities of the world are beings in the various states of consciousness. The fact that we live in the human state of consciousness and do not have a full overview of realities from this state of consciousness has the effect that what is not a reality appears to us as a reality.|148|305f}}

== Literature ==
*[[w:Karl Fortlage|Karl Fortlage]]: ''Acht psychologische Vorträge'', Jena 1869 [https://archive.org/details/achtpsychologis00fortgoog archive.org]
*[[w:Emil du Bois-Reymond|Emil du Bois-Reymond]]: ''Über die Grenzen des Naturerkennens'', 1872, Nachdruck u.a. in: Emil du Bois-Reymond: ''Vorträge über Philosophie und Gesellschaft'', Hamburg, Meiner, 1974.
* [[w:Jean-Pierre Changeux|Jean-Pierre Changeux]]: ''Der neuronale Mensch. Wie die Seele funktioniert - die Entdeckungen der neuen Gehirnforschung'', Rowohlt-Verlag 1984, ISBN 978-3498008659
* [[w:Niklas Luhmann|Niklas Luhmann]]: ''Die Autopoesis des Bewußtseins'', in: ''Soziale Welt'' 36. Jahrg., Heft 4, 1985, S. 402–466 {{JSTOR|40877451}}
* Ernst Pöppel (Hrsg.): ''Gehirn und Bewusstsein'', Wiley Verlag Chemie 1989, ISBN 978-3527279012
* [[w:John Searle|John Searle]], Harvey P. Gavagai (Übers.): ''Die Wiederentdeckung des Geistes'', Artemis und Winkler, München 1993, ISBN 3-7608-1944-3
* [[w:Peter Bieri|Peter Bieri]]: ''[http://www.denkabende.de/kognition/bieri.rtf Was macht Bewußtsein zu einem Rätsel?]'' (rtf; 56&nbsp;kB), veröffentlicht in ''„Gehirn und Bewusstsein“'' (Hrsg. [[w:Wolf Singer|Wolf Singer]]), Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 1994, ISBN 978-3860252208, S. 172–180
* [[w:Francis Crick|Francis Crick]]: ''Was die Seele wirklich ist. Die naturwissenschaftliche Erforschung des Bewußtseins'', Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag 1997, ISBN 978-3499602573
* [[w:Paul Churchland|Paul Churchland]]: ''Die Seelenmaschine: Eine philosophische Reise ins Gehirn'', Spektrum Verlag 2001, ISBN 978-3827410207
* Konrad Sandhoff, Wolfgang Donner (Hrsg.): ''Vom Urknall zum Bewusstsein - Selbstorganisation der Materie'', Thieme-Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3131481917
*  [[w:Maxwell Bennett|Maxwell Bennett]], [[w:Daniel C. Dennett|Daniel C. Dennett]], [[w:Peter Hacker|Peter Hacker]], [[w:John Searl|John R. Searle]]: ''Neurowissenschaft und Philosophie: Gehirn, Geist und Sprache'', Suhrkamp Verlag 2010, ISBN 978-3518585429
*  [[w:Maxwell Bennett|Maxwell R. Bennett]], [[w:Peter Hacker|Peter M. Hacker]], Axel Walter (Übers.): ''Die philosophischen Grundlagen der Neurowissenschaften'', Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft (WBG) 2010, ISBN 978-3534228775, eBook ASIN B01A16QLUA
* Kat Salomon: ''Der Geist und das Bewusstsein'', tredition, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8495-4114-9
* [[w:Michael Gazzaniga|Michael Gazzaniga]], Dagmar Mallett (Übers.): ''Die Ich-Illusion: Wie Bewusstsein und freier Wille entstehen'', Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG 2012, ISBN 978-3446430112, eBook ASIN B007ADU5R8
* Konrad Sandhoff, Wolfgang Donner: ''Vom Urknall zum Bewusstsein - Selbstorganisation der Materie'', Thieme-Verlag, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3131481917
* [[a:Thomas Görnitz|Thomas Görnitz]], [[a:Brigitte Görnitz|Brigitte Görnitz]]: ''Die Evolution des Geistigen; Quantenphysik – Bewusstsein – Religion.'' Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-56717-3
* [[a:Thomas Görnitz|Thomas Görnitz]], [[a:Brigitte Görnitz|Brigitte Görnitz]]: ''Das Geistige im Blickfeld der Naturwissenschaft - Bewusstsein und Materie als spezielle Formen der Protyposis - von abstrakter, bedeutungsfreier Quanteninformation'', in: Johannes Weinzirl (Hrsg.), Peter Heusser (Hrsg.): ''Was ist Geist?'', Wittener Kolloquium für Humanismus, Medizin und Philosophie, Band 2, Königshausen u. Neumann 2014, ISBN 978-3826052224
* [[a:Thomas Görnitz|Thomas Görnitz]], [[a:Brigitte Görnitz|Brigitte Görnitz]]: ''Von der Quantenphysik zum Bewusstsein - Kosmos, Geist und Materie,'' Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2016'','' ISBN 978-3-662-49081-5
* [[w:David J. Chalmers|David J. Chalmers]]: ''The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory'', Oxford University Press Inc 1996, ISBN 978-0195105537, eBook ASIN B004SL4KI0 
* [[w:Christof Koch|Christof Koch]], Jorunn Wissmann (Übers.), Monika Niehaus-Osterloh (Übers.): ''Bewusstsein - ein neurobiologisches Rätsel: Mit einem Vorwort von [[w:Francis Crick|Francis Crick]]'', Spektrum Akademischer Verlag 2014, ISBN 978-3827431226
* [[w:Christof Koch|Christof Koch]]: ''Bewusstsein: Bekenntnisse eines Hirnforschers.'' Springer Spektrum, Wiesbaden 2013, ISBN 978-3-6423-4770-2
* [[w:Stanislas Dehaene|Stanislas Dehaene]], Helmut Reuter (Übers.): ''Denken: Wie das Gehirn Bewusstsein schafft'', Albrecht Knaus Verlag 2014, ISBN 978-3813504200, eBook ASIN B00KG66INQ
* [[w:Thomas Metzinger|Thomas Metzinger]]: ''Der Ego-Tunnel: Eine neue Philosophie des Selbst: Von der Hirnforschung zur Bewusstseinsethik'', Piper Taschenbuch 2014, ISBN 978-3492305334, eBook ASIN B00GZL6ZT8
* [[w:Susan Blackmore|Susan Blackmore]], Jürgen Neubauer (Übers.): ''Bewusstsein - Eine sehr kurze Einführung'', Hogrefe AG 2014, ISBN 978-3456853253, eBook {{ASIN|B0151MLTF6}}
* [[w:Susan Blackmore|Susan Blackmore]], Emily T. Troscianko: ''Consciousness: An Introduction'', 3rd New edition, Taylor & Francis 2018, ISBN 978-1138801318, eBook {{ASIN|B07CGTYLRS}}
* J. Kevin O’Regan, Alva Noë: ''A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness'', in: Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24 (5), 2001, pp. 939–1031 {{DOI|10.1017/S0140525X01000115}} [http://nivea.psycho.univ-paris5.fr/Manuscripts/ORegan;Noe.BBS.pdf pdf]
* [[w:Amit Goswami|Amit Goswami]], Thomas Niehaus (Übers.): ''Das bewusste Universum: Wie das Bewusstein die materielle Welt erschafft'', Lüchow Verlag 2013, ISBN 978-3899017342; eBook {{ASIN|B017HP0SB6}} 
* [[a:Peter Heusser|Peter Heusser]]: ''Anthroposophie und Wissenschaft: Eine Einführung. Erkenntniswissenschaft, Physik, Chemie, Genetik, Biologie, Neurobiologie, Psychologie, Philosophie des Geistes, Anthropologie, Anthroposophie, Medizin'', Verlag am Goetheanum, Dornach 2016, ISBN 978-3723515686
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Die Philosophie der Freiheit'', [[GA 4]] (1995) {{Lectures|4}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Aus der Akasha-Chronik'', [[GA 11]] (1986), ISBN 3-7274-0110-9 {{Lectures|011}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Die Geheimwissenschaft im Umriß'', [[GA 13]] (1989), ISBN 3-7274-0130-3 {{Lectures|013}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Anthroposophische Leitsätze'', [[GA 26]] (1998), ISBN 3-7274-0260-1 {{Lectures|026}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]/[[Ita Wegman]]: ''Grundlegendes für eine Erweiterung der Heilkunst nach geisteswissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen'', [[GA 27]] (1991), ISBN 3-7274-0270-9 {{Lectures|027}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Die Erkenntnis des Übersinnlichen in unserer Zeit'', [[GA 55]] (1983) {{Lectures|55}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Metamorphosen des Seelenlebens – Pfade der Seelenerlebnisse. Zweiter Teil'', [[GA 59]] (1984), ISBN 3-7274-0595-3 {{Lectures|059}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Die Ergänzung heutiger Wissenschaften durch Anthroposophie'', [[GA 73]] (1987), ISBN 3-7274-0730-1 {{Lectures|073}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Grundelemente der Esoterik'', [[GA 93a]] (1987), ISBN 3-7274-0935-5 {{Lectures|093a}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Kosmogonie'', [[GA 94]] (2001), ISBN 3-7274-0940-1 {{Lectures|094}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Natur- und Geistwesen – ihr Wirken in unserer sichtbaren Welt'', [[GA 98]] (1996) {{Lectures|98}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Mythen und Sagen. Okkulte Zeichen und Symbole'', [[GA 101]] (1992), ISBN 3-7274-1010-8 {{Lectures|101}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Anthroposophie – Psychosophie – Pneumatosophie'', [[GA 115]] (2001), ISBN 3-7274-1150-3 {{Lectures|115}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Aus der Akasha-Forschung. Das Fünfte Evangelium'', [[GA 148]] (1992) {{Lectures|148}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Der menschliche und der kosmische Gedanke'', [[GA 151]] (1990), ISBN 3-7274-1510-X {{Lectures|151}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Kunst- und Lebensfragen im Lichte der Geisteswissenschaft'', [[GA 162]] (2000), ISBN 3-7274-1620-3 {{Lectures|162}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Die spirituellen Hintergründe der äußeren Welt. Der Sturz der Geister der Finsternis'', [[GA 177]] (1999), ISBN 3-7274-1771-4 {{Lectures|177}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Initiationswissenschaft und Sternenerkenntnis'', [[GA 228]] (2002), ISBN 3-7274-2280-7 {{Lectures|228}}
* [[Rudolf Steiner]]: ''Die Anthroposophie und ihre Gegner 1919 – 1921'', [[GA 255b]] (2003), ISBN 3-7274-2555-5 {{Lectures|255b}}

{{GA}}

== Weblinks ==
* [[a:Thomas Metzinger|Thomas Metzinger]]: ''Das letzte Rätsel der Philosophie'' - Sendereihe in drei Teilen auf SWR2
** [https://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/wissen/swr2-wissen-aula-das-letzte-raetsel-der-philosophie/-/id=660374/did=2570948/nid=660374/o090a1/index.html Was ist das Bewusstsein (1)] - SWR2 (21.10.2007)
** [https://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/wissen/swr2-wissen-aula-das-letzte-raetsel-der-philosophie/-/id=660374/did=2601676/nid=660374/ippy8m/index.html Was ist das Bewusstsein (2)] - SWR2 (28.10.2007)
** [https://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/wissen/swr2-wissen-aula-das-letzte-raetsel-der-philosophie/-/id=660374/did=2631700/nid=660374/sanzca/index.html Was ist das Bewusstsein (2)] - SWR2 (1.11.2007)

== References ==
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[[Category:World evolution]]
[[Category:Spirit]]
[[Category:Soul]]
[[Category:Consciousness]]
[[de:Bewusstsein]]