Consciousness, cognition, and communication

Awareness of our communication, of cognition and of consciousness itself remains one of the mysteries of the human experience. Consciousness seems central to our conception of what it means to be human, yet upon inspection appears to be peripheral to much of our communication and cognition. This paradox has been a central issue in the historic debate over determinism and free will and the recent debate over whether communication is largely intentional and/or conscious. Controversies continue over the nature of consciousness, the neural basis of consciousness and its relationship to communication, whether consciousness is unitary or dual, the benefits or harms of consciousness and its relationship to communication competence and pedagogy. In this essay the current state of thinking on these issues is critically examined.