Concepts of Consciousness as Involving Measurement-Omission

The process of concept-formation involves bearing in mind the attributes but omitting the measurements of observed existents. This is true for all concepts, of every order, including those pertaining to consciousness. The key insight to recognise that this is true for concepts of consciousness “lies in the fact that every process of consciousness involves two fundamental attributes: content and action.”¹

Let’s take as an example–to follow Leonard Peikoff–the concept of “thought.” First, thought is thought about something–there is some particular content of the thought–but when we speak of the concept “thought” we are not concerned about the specific content of that thought. There will be certain measurements which distinguish this specific content from that specific content—and these are omitted; all that matters is that there is some content but that it can be any content.

Second, the thought about $x$² will exist with a certain intensity—the content will be broad or narrow; it will have a given clarity; it will exist within a certain context; etc. Notice the quantitative language used here—we speak of the scope of the thought being broad as against narrow; of the thought being with a certain degree of clarity; etc. In general the intensity of a thought process also exists with certain measurements—these measurements are then omitted; all that matters is that there is some intensity to the mental action, but it can have any intensity.

Ayn Rand states the point as follows:

A concept pertaining to consciousness is a mental integration of t w o or more instances of a psychological process possessing the same distinguishing characteristics, with the particular contents and the measurements of the action’s intensity omitted–on the principle that these omitted measurements must exist in some quantity, but may exist in any quantity (i.e., a given psychological process must possess some content and some degree of intensity, but may possess any content or degree of the appropriate category).³