THE
SYMPOSIUM DOCUMENT
The meeting on Science and
Consciousness set out to address various key questions rising from the study of
consciousness in all its aspects. Over sixty people from very diverse backgrounds came to
Athens from 18 countries.
The following main areas were
addressed:
- The nature of Reality and its relation to
consciousness.
- The adequacy of current scientific approaches to
consciousness.
- Theories of mind-brain interaction.
- The nature of human identity.
- The need for a new scientific paradigm.
- The need for an interdisciplinary science of
consciousness.
The format of the meeting
consisted of five working groups reporting to a plenary session, plus plenary
presentations by individual speakers.
Disciplines represented included
physics, biology, chemistry, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, sociology, medicine,
engineering, ecology, parapsychology, mathematics and ethology. There were thus a
multitude of viewpoints with their various concepted schemes and language. This put a
premium on listening and communication.
Given this diversity of
viewpoints, not to mention the variations within individual disciplines, it was hardly
surprising that the symposium did not achieve a consensus on many of the detailed issued
raised; nor did we feel that such a consensus should be arrived at by glossing over our
differences or finding a convenient form of ambiguous drafting. There are no square
brackets for negotiation in this draft!
The following points were
generally agreed:
- Current scientific approaches did not give us an
adequate picture of reality.
- There was therefore a need for an extended or
revised scientific paradigm.
The following areas remained in
dispute:
- The nature of reality and how best to understand
it.
- The nature of consciousness itself; some argued
for a physical basis, while others were convinced that consciousness was intrinsically
non-physical.
- The role of mind/brain interaction: some agreed
that consciousness emerged from brain processes; others that consciousness (or the soul)
interacted with the body.
- Some placed emphasis on the need for more
systematic scientific approaches to consciousness; others emphasised the importance of
spiritual disciplines in the investigation and enhancement of consciousness.
- Human identity was defined by some in terms of
physical and biological substructures interacting with sociocultural background and
conditioning; others preferred to see our intrinsic identity as metaphysical, even if
physically based and conditioned.
- Some argued for an extension of the existing
scientific paradigm to encompass consciousness; some that science should simply recognize
the limitations of its approaches, confined as they are by measurement of events and
processes in the physical world. It was remarked that a new paradigm would have to stake
out appropriate epistemological boundaries, approaches (eg intuition, gnosis), methods,
and procedures for verification.
- Some advocated an interdisciplinary science of
consciousness, (commenting that the outlines of such a science already existed in
psychology and neuroscience) while others focussed on an approach which would combine
science with other disciplines, suggesting that the term ‘consciousness studies’
would be more apposite. Reservations were expressed about the potential misuse of a
science of consciousness
PRACTICAL PROPOSALS
- The continuation of inter- and trandisciplinary
dialogue about consciousness in Athens and elsewhere, with an attempt to maintain the
spontaneous process of our meeting.
- The establishment of an Institute or Academy to
coordinate research, education, bibliography, resource databases, a joined and
interdisciplinary meting
- The drawing up of educational programs which
include courses on aspects of consciousness relevant to general education on specific
scientific and other disciplines; such courses should be practical as well as theoretical,
looking at inner as well as other contexts.
The pursuit of consciousness-raising in
institutions and areas of conflict. |