Philosophers have oftn argued that theirs is a reflctive

discipline, one which emerges as man begins to question what has

been accepted uncritically as the basis of the universe and human
experience. Sooner or later, however, another thought arises.
"All this time," someone reasons, "I have been thinking about
many things without questioning the nature of the intelligence
upon which my assumptions and reflctions depend." Stated
more generally, we have been thinking without reflcting upon
the nature of reflction itself. What is the nature of human
awareness? Whence does it emerge? Is consciousness human
or divine, fiite or infiite? Philosophers" religious thinkers
and scientists East and West have long tried to answer these
and related questions, and today, of course, interest in the nature
of consciousness is as vital as ever. Increasingly sophisticated
scientrfi instruments have provided vast quantities of new data
in terms of which neurophysioiogists and psychologists are
"mapping" the structure of the brain. A great deal of attention
is being paid to behavioral abnormalities and learning disabilities in order to
discover what factors might twist or inhibit the
deveIopment of socially adjusted and conventionally productive
consciousness. And many behaviorally oriented philosophers
have been trying to analyze states of human consciousness in
terms of action, or the intentions and desires which motivate
action.