?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=HOW+TO+DEFINE+CONSCIOUSNESS%E2%80%94AND+HOW+NOT+TO+DEFINE+CONSCIOUSNESS&rft.creator=Velmans%2C+Prof+Max&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.subject=Metaphysics&rft.subject=Perceptual+Cognitive+Psychology&rft.description=Definitions+of+consciousness+need+to+be+sufficiently+broad+to+include+all+examples+of+conscious+states+and+sufficiently+narrow+to+exclude+entities%2C+events+and+processes+that+are+not+conscious.++Unfortunately%2C+deviations+from+these+simple+principles+are+common+in+modern+consciousness+studies%2C+with+consequent+confusion+and+internal+division+in+the+field.+The+present+paper+gives+example+of+ways+in+which+definitions+of+consciousness+can+be+either+too+broad+or+too+narrow.+It+also+discusses+some+of+the+main+ways+in+which+pre-existing+theoretical+commitments+(about+the+nature+of+consciousness%2C+mind+and+world)+have+intruded+into+definitions.+Similar+problems+can+arise+in+the+way+a+%E2%80%9Cconscious+process%E2%80%9D+is+defined%2C+potentially+obscuring+the+way+that+conscious+phenomenology+actually+relates+to+its+neural+correlates+and+antecedent+causes+in+the+brain%2C+body+and+external+world.+Once+a+definition+of+%E2%80%9Cconsciousness%E2%80%9D+is+firmly+grounded+in+its+phenomenology%2C+investigations+of+its+ontology+and+its+relationships+to+entities%2C+events+and+processes+that+are+not+conscious+can+begin%2C+and+this+may+in+time+transmute+the+meaning+(or+sense)+of+the+term.++As+our+scientific+understanding+of+these+relationships+deepen%2C+our+understanding+of+what+consciousness+is+will+also+deepen.++A+similar+transmutation+of+meaning+(with+growth+of+knowledge)+occurs+with+basic+terms+in+physics+such+as+%22energy%22%2C+and+%22time.%22&rft.publisher=Imprint+Academic&rft.date=2009&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=application%2Fpdf&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F6453%2F1%2FHow_to_define_consciousness.pdf&rft.identifier=++Velmans%2C+Prof+Max++(2009)+HOW+TO+DEFINE+CONSCIOUSNESS%E2%80%94AND+HOW+NOT+TO+DEFINE+CONSCIOUSNESS.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F6453%2F