UCT CILT
Ask Mark 3.16 – Where does consciousness come from?
Professor Mark Solms of the University of Cape Town (UCT) answers a question (see below) posed to him on UCT’s free online course “What is a Mind?”, hosted by FutureLearn. Enrol for the course here https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/what-is-a-mind
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Question: Is it known with absolute certainty that the reticular activating system can generate consciousness all by itself, as opposed to being a necessary, but not sufficient system for consciousness? I know the studies of children born without a cortex suggest otherwise, but are we absolutely certain in those cases that the apparent emotions aren’t simply the mechanical aspects of the emotion and learning behavior, while the actual subjective affect isn’t being felt?
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