A new theory about the origins of consciousness that finds learning to
be the driving force in the evolutionary transition to basic
consciousness.
What marked the evolutionary transition from organisms that lacked
consciousness to those with consciousness--to minimal subjective
experiencing, or, as Aristotle described it, "the sensitive soul"? In
this book, Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka propose a new theory about
the origin of consciousness that finds learning to be the driving force
in the transition to basic consciousness. Using a methodology similar to
that used by scientists when they identified the transition from
non-life to life, Ginsburg and Jablonka suggest a set of criteria,
identify a marker for the transition to minimal consciousness, and
explore the far-reaching biological, psychological, and philosophical
implications.
After presenting the historical, neurobiological, and philosophical
foundations of their analysis, Ginsburg and Jablonka propose that the
evolutionary marker of basic or minimal consciousness is a complex form
of associative learning, which they term unlimited associative learning
(UAL). UAL enables an organism to ascribe motivational value to a novel,
compound, non-reflex-inducing stimulus or action, and use it as the
basis for future learning. Associative learning, Ginsburg and Jablonka
argue, drove the Cambrian explosion and its massive diversification of
organisms. Finally, Ginsburg and Jablonka propose symbolic language as a
similar type of marker for the evolutionary transition to human
rationality--to Aristotle's "rational soul."
