Four-Dimensional Graded Consciousness
Four-Dimensional Graded Consciousness
复制标题
四维分级意识
作者：
J. Jonkisz;M. Wierzchoń;M. Binder
意识的多维现象和多义概念继续证明抵抗一致的测量和明确的定义。这并不令人惊讶，因为即使在它们所涉及的最基本问题上也没有达成协议。在关于意识的持续争论中，一个基本的分歧在于它的等级性质。这篇文章的总体目的是展示意识如何同时被分级和多维化。因此，我们关注的问题是，在意识的情况下，它到底是什么，或者可以被分级，以及我们如何测量它，最终，我们将描述意识的四个不同的可分级方面：质量、抽象性、复杂性和有用性，它们属于四个不同的维度，分别被理解为现象的、语义的、生理的和功能的。因此，可以说意识在现象质量、语义抽象、生理复杂性和功能有用性方面是不同的。我们希望，这样一个四维的方法将有助于澄清和证明有关意识的等级性质的主张。这种方法也被证明是有利的，因为它不仅使我们能够注意到意识的主观测量方面的某些新的和重要的差异，并证明一个给定的生物如何在意识的一个维度上排名较高，而在另一个维度上排名较低，而且还允许对各种众所周知的现象进行创新性解释（其中，盲视和闭锁综合征的解释将在此简要概述）。此外，一个4D框架使得许多预测和假设成为可能，这些预测和假设可以通过实验进行检验（我们指出了一些与维度间依赖性有关的可能性）。
Both the multidimensional phenomenon and the polysemous notion of consciousness continue to prove resistant to consistent measurement and unambiguous definition. This is hardly surprising, given that there is no agreement even as regards the most fundamental issues they involve. One of the basic disagreements present in the continuing debate about consciousness pertains to its gradational nature. The general aim of this article is to show how consciousness might be graded and multidimensional at the same time. We therefore focus on the question of what it is, exactly, that is or could be graded in cases of consciousness, and how we can measure it. Ultimately, four different gradable aspects of consciousness will be described: quality, abstractness, complexity and usefulness, which belong to four different dimensions, these being understood, respectively, as phenomenal, semantic, physiological, and functional. Consequently, consciousness may be said to vary with respect to phenomenal quality, semantic abstraction, physiological complexity, and functional usefulness. It is hoped that such a four-dimensional approach will help to clarify and justify claims about the hierarchical nature of consciousness. The approach also proves explanatorily advantageous, as it enables us not only to draw attention to certain new and important differences in respect of subjective measures of awareness and to justify how a given creature may be ranked higher in one dimension of consciousness and lower in terms of another, but also allows for innovative explanations of a variety of well-known phenomena (amongst these, the interpretations of blindsight and locked-in syndrome will be briefly outlined here). Moreover, a 4D framework makes possible many predictions and hypotheses that may be experimentally tested (We point out a few such possibilities pertaining to interdimensional dependencies).