Is consciousness "sharp" or "vague"

[Yerda]

Take consciousness to mean experience. A man in a coma, dreaming for forty years, is conscious as he's the subject of experience, for instance.


Is consciousness an either-or phenomenon? As in, either a subject has an experience or doesn't. In other words is consciousness "sharp"?

This isn't to say that different states of being can't be more or less conscious. Just that either the light is on or off, regardless of how bright it shines.


Or, is consciousness a phenomenon that admits borderline cases? Are there states of being that aren't either definitely conscious or definitely not conscious? In othere words is consciousness "vague"?


This might seem like a weird thing to be thinking about. It probably is. I started reading a book by Michael Tye and had never previously thought about this at all. Now the more I think about it the more interesting it seems.

Anyway, my gut instinct is that it is sharp. The cases that I can imagine as borderline all have some degree of consciousness and are therefore sharp by my understanding. But when I think about most things in the world, there are cases that don't fall into definitely one thing or the other. Life is a good example, if I imagine the steps from non-life to life there are going to be lots of cases that aren't easily categorised and therefore vague. Why would the ability to experience be different? Especially if this ability is the result of evolution? I've been going round in circles.


Any thoughts?

 

[Heyo]

Take consciousness to mean experience. A man in a coma, dreaming for forty years, is conscious as he's the subject of experience, for instance.


Is consciousness an either-or phenomenon? As in, either a subject has an experience or doesn't. In other words is consciousness "sharp"?

This isn't to say that different states of being can't be more or less conscious. Just that either the light is on or off, regardless of how bright it shines.


Or, is consciousness a phenomenon that admits borderline cases? Are there states of being that aren't either definitely conscious or definitely not conscious? In othere words is consciousness "vague"?


This might seem like a weird thing to be thinking about. It probably is. I started reading a book by Michael Tye and had never previously thought about this at all. Now the more I think about it the more interesting it seems.

Anyway, my gut instinct is that it is sharp. The cases that I can imagine as borderline all have some degree of consciousness and are therefore sharp by my understanding. But when I think about most things in the world, there are cases that don't fall into definitely one thing or the other. Life is a good example, if I imagine the steps from non-life to life there are going to be lots of cases that aren't easily categorised and therefore vague. Why would the ability to experience be different? Especially if this ability is the result of evolution? I've been going round in circles.


Any thoughts?

The "hard problem" of consciousness is that the definition is very vague, to be polite. Without a sharp definition, how can you have a sharp consciousness?

 

[Mock Turtle]

I think I have a problem with the notion that consciousness is sharp, given that I have experienced the Flow sensation (only once) and where it seemed that I wasn't too conscious of what I was doing - rock-climbing at the time and apparently placing each hand and foot in the only position they could have gone (for a perfect climb) - or when I solved a technical problem whilst asleep apparently. Such that consciousness seems to be rather fluid if related to our essential being - the ability to function properly. And I've never taken any recreational drugs so as to know what might be experienced in such situations.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I'm of the opinion that it's a matter of degree and not an either-or. I think that even the most primitive life forms have at least a tiny wisp of consciousness, befitting their level of complexity. I'm thinking that it's a property that emerges in complex systems out of that complexity, but is not visible in any of the components.