DOI: 10.46726/H.2026.3.16
The problem of the origin and essence of consciousness is the oldest and most difficult to study in philosophy and other sciences. Although it has been posed and addressed by all significant philosophers and many scientists representing the specialized sciences, to date there exists neither a generally accepted definition of consciousness nor a solution to this problem that satisfies all, or at least most, researchers. In strict logical wording, consciousness can be represented as: an independent entity (an ideal mode of being); a property of some other substance (for example, of the brain); a function or work (of the brain); a generated substance; a generative substance; a substance independent of matter; a dependentsubstance, fused with matter. The philosophical model, which represents consciousness as a “sphere” that distinguishes man from the rest of nature, has at least six “seams”. Today, cognitive science, in particular neuroscience, is
most successful in explaining the nature and essence of consciousness, developing on a materialistic basis and, in a certain sense, becoming a counterweight to gnoseology, which separates the objective and subjective worlds as the watcher and the watched.
For citation: Tajsina E.A. Gnoseology and cognitivistics on the problem of consciousness: six seams, Ivanovo State University Bulletin. Series: Humanities, 2026, iss. 3, pp. 147—158.