Philosophical Reflections On The Scientific Research Approaches Of Consciousness

What is the nature of consciousness?Where does consciousness originate?The search for the nature of consciousness has always been the preserve of philosophers.But recent trends suggest that the scientific community is increasingly involved in solving this thorny and age-old problem.To a large extent,the question of the nature of consciousness has changed from a philosophical question to a scientific one.In the context of the current cognitive neuroscience of consciousness,the need for philosophy is no longer self-evident.However,by critically examining the methodological problems and ontological presuppositions in the cognitive neuroscience of consciousness,we believe that philosophical reflection is still of great theoretical and practical significance to the scientific research of consciousness.With the disciplinarization and specialization of modern science,as well as the continuous innovation of scientific methods and technical tools,consciousness is gradually regarded as a problem that science can deal with.The scientific research of consciousness uses a variety of research methods,such as experimental psychology,neurophysiology,cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience.These different methods of consciousness research are all aimed at exploring an operational concept of consciousness,so as to overcome the ambiguity of consciousness concept.With the development of cognitive neuroscience and the rise of converging technologies,the scientific research of consciousness has the characteristics of typical technoscience,or the scientific research of consciousness itself has become a technoscientific practice.On the one hand,the scientific research of consciousness has a strong technological dependence,and scientists can even study consciousness by "controlling consciousness".On the other hand,this kind of scientific research of consciousness brings together different research orientations of science,technology and engineering,so that conscious experience as scientific data is inevitably constructive and artificial.From a transcendental philosophical point of view,this kind of scientific research of consciousness,which relies on the methodological procedures,has to a large extent been far away from the actual experience of the cognizant,and shows that different ontological presuppositions and scientific understandings lie behind the disputes of methodological procedures.Although the cognitive neuroscience of consciousness has made great progress,the analysis of two main approaches to the scientific research of consciousness shows that both the search for the neural correlates of consciousness and the computational simulation of consciousness have different methodological characteristics and ontological presuppositions.From the perspective of methodology,the research approach of searching for the neural correlates of consciousness adopts the reductionist method,trying to reduce or equate the phenomenon of consciousness to the phenomenon of matter(physics).The computational simulation of consciousness,on the other hand,takes a functionalist method,asserting that a state or process is considered a given type of mind or consciousness because of its functional role in a properly organized system.From the perspective of ontology,there are different ontological presuppositions behind the scientific research approaches of consciousness,among which there are mainly various versions of physicalism or neutral ontology.Therefore,the current scientific approach to consciousness is unable to form a unified cognition and understanding of consciousness,and we lack a new perspective to solve the disputes about the ontology,epistemology and methodology of consciousness.In the scientific study of consciousness,we cannot stop at providing a complete abstract description of the conscious experience concerned,for abstraction seems an inadequate substitute from the point of view of experience itself or of life.Heidegger's existential-ontological analysis of Dasein shows that,on the one hand,science as a theoretical attitude towards the world is not the fundamental and preferred way of Dasein.It is doubtful,therefore,whether the scientific research of consciousness is nearest to our own conscious experience;On the other hand,the transcendental constructive role of consciousness in traditional epistemology has a deeper ontological root.From the perspective of ontology,first of all,the ontological view of science is of positive significance to the scientific research of consciousness,which indicates that the scientific research of consciousness needs to overcome the epistemological model of subject-object dichotomy of modern science and the priority of method and move towards an "extended science".Secondly,Heidegger's existential-ontological analysis of actual life experience or Dasein provides us with important resources to reflect on the scientific research of consciousness,thus contributing to the formation of an ontological approach to the scientific research of consciousness.The ontological approach indicates that the scientific research of consciousness needs to get rid of the traditional ontological and epistemological ways of questioning and inquiry,shift to a focus on actual life experience or the meaning of existence,and require the exploration of methodological principles appropriate to the ontological basis of scientific research of this consciousness,for example,the principle of wholeness,the principle of complementarity between the first person and the third person methods and the principle of convergence of different methods.In addition,from the ontological perspective,the new technological possibilities opened up by the scientific research of consciousness under the technoscientific paradigm indicate the deep connections between human beings,technology and the world.They become more and more deeply embedded in our experience of the world,our perception of it and our interpretation of it,and make the lines between nature and artificiality,nature and technology more and more blur.This trend has also changed our understanding of consciousness,the self and the human nature,and thus our conception of who we are.However,the transformation of the conception of human nature in the science of consciousness may bring about significant and profound ethical problems,and we urgently need to understand,reflect on and reshape human beings and their self-understanding.It also highlights the necessity and urgency of philosophical reflection in such an age of high technology.