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Abstract:
Consciousness as a Biological Phenomenon An essential element
of any scientific understanding of consciousness is a systematic,
natural-science approach to consciousness, which links
consciousness studies with cognitive neuroscience and more
generally with the biological sciences. Let us call such a branch
of science "Cognitive Neuroscience of Consciousness" (CNC).
Although a substantial part of current empirical work on
consciousness, especially on the neural correlates of
consciousness, is carried out within a natural science framework,
there seems to be no unifying theoretical view of consciousness
guiding such work. This is a serious weakness for the scientific
approach to consciousness, for unless consciousness studies can be
theoretically firmly linked with mainstream biological and
cognitive science, there is little hope that it will become the
widely respected, progressive multidisciplinary field of inquiry
that it strives to be.
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