In the last decade there has been a surge of interest in the science of consciousness. We know more today about the function and anatomy of neural systems underlying human experience than ever. Despite these recent advances, no stable models or strategies have emerged for the study of consciousness. With funding from the National Science Foundation, two workshops will be held to bring together a diverse group of researchers to explore new approaches to the study of consciousness. The workshops are motivated by the possibility that the current impasse in consciousness studies is at least partly due to an overly narrow focus on the neural basis of consciousness, to the exclusion of perspectives made available by philosophy and other humanities disciplines. The focus on neural bases is understandable given that human and animal experience undoubtedly depends on the brain. But it is equally true that experience arises only in context - in the context of the situation of the whole animal's active engagement with its environment (including the cultural environment). Perhaps the source of our inability to bridge the gap between neural systems and consciousness is that consciousness can only be understood in its broader, contextual embedding. Perhaps consciousness only arises in context.
The two workshops will bring together a team of philosophers and scientists to explore strategies for understanding consciousness in context. The team will consist of researchers working in several distinct disciplines: perceptual and cognitive neuroscience, psychology (both developmental and cognitive), anthropology, evolutionary neurobiology, linguistics, and philosophy. One of the primary aims of these workshops is to lay the foundations for future collaborations on the study of consciousness in context.
