Consciousness

Abstract

Consciousness, the pride of the righteous and the curse of the sinner, has baffled countless thinkers over millennia, and is still regarded by many as an unknown. Thus Johnson-Laird (1983, p. 448) notes: “No one really knows what consciousness is, what it does, or what function it serves.” It stood at the very center of traditional psychology until it was banished by behaviorism and reflexology. However, even at the peak of these two movements the concept of consciousness only went underground. In fact, it was used when distinguishing subliminal from conscious perception, or an alert animal from an anesthesized or sleeping one.