Gierer Alfred
Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Spemannstrasse 35, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Bioessays. 2008 May;30(5):499-505. doi: 10.1002/bies.20743.
In biological terms, human consciousness appears as a feature associated with the functioning of the human brain. The corresponding activities of the neural network occur strictly in accord with physical laws; however, this fact does not necessarily imply that there can be a comprehensive scientific theory of consciousness, despite all the progress in neurobiology, neuropsychology and neurocomputation. Predictions of the extent to which such a theory may become possible vary widely in the scientific community. There are basic reasons-not only practical but also epistemological-why the brain-mind relation may never be fully "decodable" by general finite procedures. In particular self-referential features of consciousness, such as self-representations involved in strategic thought and dispositions, may not be resolvable in all their essential aspects by brain analysis. Assuming that such limitations exist, objective analysis by the methods of natural science cannot, in principle, fully encompass subjective, mental experience.
从生物学角度来看，人类意识表现为与人类大脑功能相关的一种特征。神经网络的相应活动严格按照物理定律发生；然而，尽管神经生物学、神经心理学和神经计算取得了所有进展，但这一事实并不一定意味着能够有一个关于意识的全面科学理论。在科学界，对于这样一种理论实现可能性的程度预测差异很大。存在一些基本原因——不仅是实际原因，还有认识论原因——使得大脑与意识的关系可能永远无法通过一般有限程序完全“解码”。特别是意识的自我指涉特征，比如战略思维和性情中涉及的自我表征，其所有本质方面可能无法通过大脑分析得到解决。假设存在这些局限性，那么自然科学方法的客观分析原则上就无法完全涵盖主观的心理体验。
