Essay 5-Conscious Experience

Introduction

In essay 4, we have discussed the absolute existence of reality. It has been determined that reality absolutely exists and that such existence is known through the presence of conscious experience. The concept of conscious experience has been discussed in both essay 3 and essay 4. However, both essays are rather lacking in their discussions, essay 3 only discusses briefly to establish some sort of methodology while essay 4 discusses deeply about conscious experience but does not address a core problem: its definition. Therefore, this essay will have the sole purpose of defining the conscious experience.

Conscious Experience

The existence or truth of the conscious experience has been established in essay 4 and is certain. Its presence is irrefutable, and as explained in essay 4, only mentally unsound people and p-zombies can reject the very concept of conscious experience. As such the discussion of the certainty of conscious experience will not be rediscussed. Instead we will immediately go forth for the question, that is what is conscious experience?

It is either in essay 3 or essay 4, that it is defined as the totality of experience, then again that is a circular definition. As such we require a more grounded definition based upon the analysis of conscious experience. While one of the essays do mention difficulty of analysis of such concept, it is not impossible. First of all, we must create a clear distinction between experience and information.

Often people may mistake the image for the arrangement of photons which constitute the image. The truth is they are dissimilar and only related. When we have experience, we have an interaction with reality which is subjective. Meanwhile information, that is particular arrangements or causal relations of objects, is wholly objective. The concept of experience is inequitable with information, instead it is more towards “feeling”, qualia, and appearance.

How one object appear may be different to different people even with equivalent eyesight. A famous example of appearance problem is the problem of colour. What green appears to me might be your red, but we simply agree upon actually different appearances due to consistency of such appearance. The very concept of colour is also useful in explaining experience. We can describe the physical properties of colour as much as we want, but it will never inform us about the appearance of colour.

The concept of experience can also be said as “feeling”, as in the end it can all be said as how we “feel” a particular object. Feelings also refer to emotions which are highly subjective experiences. When we touch something, we can say that we “feel” it, as such when we think it is also “feeling” our thoughts. In the Indonesian version I freely used “feeling” for the final definition of conscious experience. It might seem weird in English, but hopefully it is not too weird with the previous examples.

The individual conscious experience is then a unique feeling which we possess subjectively towards a particular situation or object in reality. The set or category of conscious experiences is then the totality of these unique feelings, or as said before, the totality of human experience. The experience is of course inclusive of both the mind and the senses. As such no distinction is made between the two, yet. Nevertheless, we can formulate two final definitions for the individual and categorical conscious experience. The first definition, “The individual conscious experience is a unique feeling towards a particular situation or object of reality and is inclusive of both internal and external experience.” The second definition, “The category of conscious experiences is the totality of individual conscious experiences inclusive of both internal and external experience.”

Significance of Conscious Experience

The conscious experience is highly significant, this section will specifically explain how it is significant and justify why an entire essay is needed just to explain the basic definition of the conscious experience, even when this definition might be superseded in the future. First, the conscious experience is essential to the determination of existence of objects, in the epistemic sense of course. We know that knowledge of existence is dependent on conscious experience. As such a clear definition of it would be necessary to have any knowledge of existence.

By the logical flow, it is also a fact that conscious experience is more foundational than the absolute existence of reality. While being the first truth, the truth of the absolute existence of reality is also a proven truth. And the proof is the conscious experience which on one hand does not require any external proofs. Instead conscious experience shows itself as its own proof and evidence. It is what we would consider to be a self-evidential truth.

Due to its self-evidential nature, the conscious experience would be the absolute foundation of the entire philosophical system. It is after all the source of proof. While many truths would be obtained through sheer deduction, the final source of all truths can be traced back to the conscious experience. As such, perhaps it is also more accurate to say that the conscious experience is not only our basis for the philosophical system but it is also the very source of it.

By those 3 reasons, it is clear how significant conscious experience is. As such there is a clear requirement for an individual essay just to ground the very definition of the conscious experience. This is to provide a clear foundation for the continuation of the philosophical system, so all other essays may eventually return to this essay for a clear definition until another essay comes to supersede this essay. As such this essay is not a permanent essay, but serves as a temporary strong foundation for other essays.

Conclusion

From this essay we have obtained 2 philosophical statements with the first being, “The individual conscious experience is a unique feeling towards a particular situation or object of reality and is inclusive of both internal and external experience,” and the second being, “The category of conscious experiences is the totality of individual conscious experiences inclusive of both internal and external experience.” With that, we can return to the discussion of existence and so the next essay will discuss the determination of existence of objects. As such this essay is declared to be done.

This essay corresponds to the Indonesian version.