The word "CONSCIOUSNESS" ....................................... WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN & WHY IS IT SO LONG WINDED? 

"WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?" & WHAT does this dreaded phrase really MEAN? 

When I first studied this topic I found it horrid; I felt it was unnecessary and I was really frustrated with the whole concept (this percept applies more to people who prefer hard facts rather than far-fetched abstract thinking out of this world.)

However, I later found that the complex breach of this impossible "GAP" between philosophy & science was very intellectually challenging. It actually does have a scientific basis and is  not merely the ramblings of a person who simply likes to hear his/her own voice.  Needless to say, of course, once I grasped the topic I did genuinely find some students who loved to talk in a philosophical manner who simply had no substance to actually what they where saying! (Hence my initial dilemma sitting in class thinking "WTF is this person talking about?!").  

In the end, however, I enjoyed this area of research which collectively brings together philosophy & science, and even the dreaded term of "what is consciousness?" was actually kinda fun (to a degree). After all, it does - to a level -  have a sound scientific substance, relevance, usage and actually can be understood  by a lay person e.g. why bother talking about random impossible scenarios and how on earth do they actually do work in real world terms? 

In sum, I have added a mini article with this blog to hopefully make the phrase "WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS" a more simple and digestible concept for all to understand.  Please refer to the references if you really want to have a more detailed understanding, as I found it was the only way to get your head around the topic (to a uni degree level) is  by LOADS of READING! Then, somehow, at the end your brain will fumble around with  these ideas, which will hopefully lead to a final eureka moment! And, hopefully, lead to some sort of bespoke understanding towards the philosophical & scientific complex, rich, imaginative and diverse ideas to consciousness.  

WHAT IS CONSCIOUSNESS?

Thus, to understand the term "what is consciousness" really entails a person, psychologist or scientist understanding a person's way of thinking e.g. how humans really think about the world every day, consciously or unconsciously. 

From decisions about free will when making explicit choices - to eat or not to eat the chocolate bar? - to choosing implicitly how one will react or handle different scenarios - e.g. when someone says "you look stunning today" or "you have just lost your job, house and wife" - reflects conscious processes, however, there simply is no agreed or set definition about what is consciousness.

But, what is agreed are the main characteristic components of consciousness that can be seen & how these consciousness characteristics are expressed in every day usage. As such, this is what science is trying to fiddle with and figure out, aka the closest (currently) anyone can come to explaining the term "what is consciousness?" is to simply attempt to explain, research and theorise the different ways it (consciousness) is expressed in everyday life.