Conceptualizing Consciousness: a Change in Perspective: The Elephant Still Surprises Those only Touching Its Trunk

Mariel Kalkach Aparicio; Christos Lazaridis

doi:10.1016/j.pmr.2023.06.021

Conceptualizing Consciousness: a Change in Perspective: The Elephant Still Surprises Those only Touching Its Trunk

Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am. 2024 Feb;35(1):1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.pmr.2023.06.021. Epub 2023 Jul 27.

Authors

Mariel Kalkach Aparicio¹, Christos Lazaridis²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin, 1685 Highland Avenue, 7th Floor, Madison, WI 53705-2281, USA; Centro Anahuac de Desarrollo Estrategico en Bioetica (CADEBI), Universidad Anahuac Mexico, Edo. Mex. MEX; UNESCO Chair of Bioethics and Human Rights, Rome, ITA. Electronic address: kalkach@neurology.wisc.edu.
² Department of Neurology, The University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, MC 2030, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.

PMID: 37993181
DOI: 10.1016/j.pmr.2023.06.021

Abstract

Providers of patients with disorders of consciousness (DoC) face clinical and ethical challenges that could be lessened by becoming acquainted with the subjective and objective aspects of consciousness. A first step to improving DoC taxonomies, management, and outcomes might be to recognize the shortcomings of the medical concept of consciousness and to improve the terminology used for the clinical parameters assessed. The authors critically review the medical perspective of consciousness represented by three sub-concepts that do not necessarily correlate with one another and discuss how none of them reflects fully the personal subjective nature of consciousness.

Keywords: Consciousness; DoC; Neuroethics.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Consciousness Disorders / diagnosis
Consciousness*
Elephants*
Humans