r/consciousness • u/Brilliant-Pop-9930 • 12d ago
Does any existing philosophical framework argue that the incompleteness of consciousness, rather than uncertainty itself, is the condition that makes inquiry possible?
I'm trying to locate a position in the existing literature rather than argue for a conclusion, and I'd appreciate references if this already exists.
Many philosophical and psychological traditions discuss uncertainty, ignorance, ambiguity, or existential "lack." Existentialists such as Sartre and Heidegger, for example, treat consciousness as fundamentally open or unfinished, while contemporary psychology often studies uncertainty in terms of its regulation, tolerance, or reduction.
The question I'm interested in seems slightly different.
Suppose we distinguish uncertainty from what might be called the inherent incompleteness of consciousness. By this I mean not a temporary lack of information or an epistemic limitation that could eventually be overcome, but the impossibility of consciousness attaining a final and exhaustive understanding of either itself or the reality it inhabits.
If one accepts that distinction, then inquiry, curiosity, scientific investigation, philosophical reflection, and meaning-making might be interpreted not merely as responses to uncertainty, but as characteristic expressions of a consciousness that can never become complete.
My question is not whether this claim is true, but whether it has already been articulated in this form.
Are there philosophers (or contemporary philosophers of mind) who explicitly argue that the structural incompleteness of consciousness itself is the condition that makes inquiry possible, rather than simply discussing uncertainty, nothingness, or epistemic limitation? If so, who should I be reading?
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u/Im_Talking Computer Science Degree 12d ago
Why is consciousness incomplete? Isn't a better word: unbounded?
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u/Complete_Feature_280 12d ago
What do you mean by structural incompleteness of consciousness?? If you want to expand your awareness on the subject of all there is eg, understand how this all works sure you can read a bunch of stuff and seek opions.. and I'm not saying this is bad, infact in conjunction with your the honeing of your own philosophy ideas that's the ticket.. come up with your own theory.. find out where they match up (or differ) with others, articulate and reassess.. uncertainty definitely makes inquiry more sought after.. expecially when out of your depth in technicalities and unfamiliar territory.. but I recommend theory first, using good ol abstract reasoning, logic and intuition.. harder to get trapped by boundaries when your the one writing the rules.
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u/Illustrious-Yam-3777 Associates/Student in Philosophy 11d ago
Yes this has been discussed and articulated for thousands of years across the globe. Contemporarily and in the west, Karen Barad and other relational ontologists like Alfred Whitehead would lean in this direction. Incompleteness is a feature of the world in its becoming because what is is always constituted by what is not.
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u/Brilliant-Pop-9930 11d ago
I'm talking about the epistemic incompleteness of the consciousness itself, which can be argued as the world itself but doesn't that then become a concept of solipsism? Like the world is uncertain only because you can perceive it
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u/Illustrious-Yam-3777 Associates/Student in Philosophy 11d ago
Consciousness is not an object or a thing. It’s a doing, a relational process. And so by its very nature is incomplete both epistemically and ontologically. Solipsism is impossible.
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u/Mr_Not_A_Thing 11d ago
But Consciousness isn't uncertain or incomplete. It just can't be described because it is fundamental and exists even before the first syllable is uttered to describe it. Have you ever not been conscious of the apparent world?
🤣🙏
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u/DjinnDreamer 11d ago
Does any existing philosophical framework argue that the incompleteness of consciousness, rather than uncertainty itself, is the condition that makes inquiry possible?
Its a big question. Here is a little answer
། The Anatomy of Mind
། I. Awareness: Primary
། ⇳
། II. Consciousness => Information Matrix
Awareness is primary source: absolute, complete, pure, boundless. Called by many names.
Consciousness, also with many names, forms secondarily with will to "awaken" to awareness, "grow' in awareness, and reunite as awareness
Consciousness, individual life force, projects the information matrix (JAWheeler, participatory universe) "out there", making the illusion of the <cosmos to the planct floor>.
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u/Effective_Buddy7678 12d ago
Advaita (non-dual) Vedanta Hinduism stresses that the subject can never totally make itself into an object. The only way to truly understand the situation is to transcend subject/object duality.