The Enigma of Consciousness – Philosophic and Scientific Approach

Consciousness is enigmatic beast. It is present with us, comforting, and intuitive core of us. Yet this familiar beast, if we try to touch and describe it, escapes. Questioning and exploring consciousness accompanies mankind since ever. In 20^th century we met never before seen states of severe disorders of consciousness – nonresponding people with eyes wide open. Also advancements in general anesthesia made us reexplore this phenomena.

Article sums up current philosophic and two most prominent current neuroscientific approaches to what consciousness is and how we can assess it in other human beings. These theories may extend our understanding of ourselves and also help to asses this core quality in our patients in moments, when they do not intelligibly respond or do not respond at all.