A Comparative Study Of The Consciousness Theories Of Crick And Edelman

In the long years of the development of human civilization,the issue of consciousness has alwavs been like a labyrinth,attractina numerous wise men to explore.The study of consciousness is not confined to the field of philosophy and psycholosy,but has begun to enter the field of neuroscience in the contemporary era.Looking back on the development of consciousness science in the contemporary era,we can divide it into two important historical staaes:the first stage is from the 1960s to the 1990s,when behaviorism has withdrawn from the stase of cosnitive science research,and new paradigms are emergins.People besin to pay attention to the corresponding relationship between conscious experience and specific brain regions,and at the same time,the success of scientific experiments has attracted more and more neuroscientists to try to uncover the mystery of consciousness.The second stage is from the 1990s to the present.With the continuous breakthroushs in functional magnetic resonance imaginu(fMRI)and neuroimagins technology,neuroscientists have begun to explore the neural mechanism behind the phenomenon of consciousness.They have explicitly studied the issue of consciousness as a scientific issue and various theories of consciousness research.Crick and Edelman have completed many pioneering work in consciousness science.Crick and Edelman have very similar scientific research experience.and most of their early research results are concentrated in the field of biolosy.Since the 1970s,the focus of their research has shifted to consciousness science,and a series of books have been published to clarify their views on consciousness.There is no doubt that Crick and Edelman are the pioneers and founders of consciousness science.In their impact,the scientific community began to emerae a larse mimber of studies on the neurolosical basis of consciousness.The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the important role played by Crick and Edelman in the development of consciousness science.By comparing the similarities and differences of their thoughts on consciousness research,it is of areat significance to understand the history of the development of eonsciousness science.This thesis is divided into six chapters.In the first chapter,I reviewed the development of consciousness science in the past 100 years,which includes both "golden period" and "dark period".Before the 1980s,many neuroscientists engaged in consciousness studies played an important role in breaking away the mist of consciousness.Crick and Edelman,with the aid of the progress of neuroscience and technology,embarked on the thorny road of consciousness science and took an important step in human consciousness science research.The second chapter starts with the discussion of unconscious phenomena,pointing out that unconsciousness plays an important role in realizing conscious phenomena and paves the way for further understanding of conscious phenomena.By comparing the differences between unconscious phenomena and conscious phenomena this thesis draws out the different opinions of Crick and Edelman on the definition and function of consciousness,in order to prepare for the following comparison of the similarities and differences of their research ideas.Chapter three starts with the discusses the similarities and differences of the two peopled consciousness research ideas from the point of view of Crick and Edelman's consciousness studies.Crick chooses vision as a breakthrough point in consciousness studies and seeks for the smallest neurological mechanism for the brain to produce consciousness,while Edelman puts forward an overall neurological mechanism for explaining the brain to produce consciousness from the perspective of evolution.Chapter four starts with the comparisons of the similarities and differences between Crick's and Edelman's research frameworks on consciousness.Crick's theoretical framework consists of ten working hypotheses,which are based on Crick's research on visual consciousness and are used to guide the search for neuronal correlates of consciousness in the brain.Edelman calls his research framework Naturalized Consciousness Research Framework",and its core is the"Dynamic Core" hypothesis.In this chapter,I will complement their respective collaborators,Christof Koch and Giulio Tononi,in their work on eonsciousness.The fifth chapter is the innovation of this thesis.By comparing the above studies of Crick and Edelman's consciousness,it reveals their different philosophical standpoints,that is,starting from the metaphysical dimension of consciousness research,I analyses the important influence of Crick's reductionist standpoint and Edelman*s non-reductionist standpoint on their consciousness research.In chapter six,I summarizes and evaluates Crick's and Edelman's ideology of consciousness research.Crick and Edelman are the main pioneers of consciousness science and landmark figures in the history of eontemporary study of eonsciousness seience.Their ideas of consciousness research have important value for the development of conscioxisness science.By comparing their similarities and differences in consciousness studies,this thesis further clarifies their historical status and value in consciousness science,and helps to systematically understand the guiding framework they provide for contemporary consciousness research.