Unconscious Influences on Discourses About Consciousness: Ideology, State-Specific Science and Unformulated Experience
April 1, 2005 DOI: 10.1080/20797222.2005.11433894 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that consciousness debates are undermined by unacknowledged differences in ordinary experience, rooted in unformulated implicational cognition, and that Tart's state-specific sciences framework could help address this by acknowledging such experience, preventing ideological struggles. |
Abstract
Discussions about consciousness are complicated by the fact that participants do not share a common underlying “ordinary” consciousness. Everyday experience is founded on what Teasdale calls implicational cognition, much of which is not verbally formulated. An unacknowledged aspect of debate is individuals’ attempts to negotiate the expression of their unformulated experience. This is further complicated by the way in which a discourse, based on particular ontological assumptions, exercises an ideological control which limits what underlying aspects of experience can be formulated at all. Tart’s concept of state specific sciences provides a framework within which the role of unformulated experience can be acknowledged and taken into account. Unless this is done, debates will be vitiated by participants engaging in ideological struggles and talking at cross-purposes.