Evolutionary Path of Consciousness and Reason: Cognitome From a Philosophical Perspective

Abstract

The ability of an organism to experience subjective states is an object of research for many disciplines of science. This article seeks to consider consciousness on the foundation of advances in neuroscience, cognitive science, anthropology, and philosophy. Particular attention is given to the concept of “cognitome” suggested by K.V. Anokhin. We agree with understanding conscious activity as a particular ability of an organism, which cannot be reduced to a mass of simpler systems. However, we believe that subjective ability for the cognition or “anticipatory reflection” of the environment must be considered under the history of natural evolution. We suggest that a particular interference pattern that emerges from the activity of neural domain systems can be a foundation for a critical enhancement of a system’s efficiency and cause further evolution of cognitive systems. This theory is coherent with the most elaborated neuroscientific explanations of consciousness and can explain the direct match between the neural system’s dynamics and states of subjective reality.