Intrinsic Awareness, the Fundamental State of Consciousness

TL;DR

This paper proposes a fundamental, environment-independent state of consciousness called intrinsic awareness (IA), aiming to simplify consciousness studies and address the hard problem by focusing on its irreducible, timeless nature.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of IA as a fundamental state of consciousness and discusses a new methodology for its investigation, challenging reductionist approaches.

Findings

IA is independent of external environment and sense organs

IA is a timeless, irreducible ground state of consciousness

Proposes a new methodology for studying IA

Abstract

In an effort to simplify the complexity in the studies of consciousness, the author suggests to divide the conscious experiences into a fundamental state, the intrinsic awareness (IA), and functions of this fundamental state. IA does not depend on external environment, our sense organs, and our cognitions. This ground state of consciousness is timeless and irreducible to sub-constituents; therefore reductionism can apply neither to the analysis nor to the new theory of IA. The methodology for investigating IA is proposed and the relation between IA and the hard problem in consciousness proposed by Chalmers is discussed.