Damasio on consciousness

From the introduction to Chapter 9 of his new book The Strange Order of Things.

“The term ‘consciousness’ applies to the very natural but distinctive kind of mental state described by the above [subjective] traits. The mental state allows its owner to be the private experiencer of the world around and, just as important, to experience aspects of his or her own being. For practical purposes, the universe of knowledge, current and past, that can be conjured up in a private mind only materializes to its owner when the owner’s mind is in a conscious state, able to survey the contents of that mind, in his or her own subjective perspective.” This perspective is combined with “integrated experience, which consists of placing mental contents into a more or less unified multidimensional panorama” (143- 44).

Also of note is that consciousness is not located in any particular brain area but “it is possible to identify several brain regions and systems that are unequivocally related to producing key ingredients of the process as outlined earlier: perspectival stance, feeling and experience integration” (154). But “still, the panoramic integrated experience […] is not to be found in one single brain structure but rather in more or less numerous time series of frames being activated piecemeal” (156).

Damasio realizes we have two natures: One dominated by natural selection pressures and one we’ve consciously and culturally created. The former are individually selfish and the latter are communally caring. There is a constant struggle between the two.

“But here is a place for remedy: Controlling the relentless pursuit of our self-interests so that we make broader homeostasis efforts possible. […] We can directly and willfully counter our genetic mandate when we refuse to act on our appetite for food or sex, or resist the impulse to punish another, or when we follow an idea tha runs counter to a natural tendency, such as procreating or depleting natural resources like drunken sailors” (229 – 30).