Teadvust

Teadvust is an Estonian term referring to the state and content of conscious experience. In philosophy of mind and cognitive science, teadvus denotes the subjective aspect of mental life, including thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and the sense of self. It is used to distinguish conscious experiences from unconscious processes and to discuss how subjective experiences relate to brain activity and behavior. The concept is central to debates about the nature of consciousness, such as whether mental states can be fully reduced to physical processes or how subjective experience arises.

Linguistic notes: teadvust is formed from the root teadvus and related to teadvustamine (the process of becoming aware) and teadvustada (to make someone aware or to realize). In everyday Estonian, teadvustamine can mean informing someone about something to increase awareness, whereas teadvus is used for general awareness or consciousness.

Contexts: In philosophy and neuroscience, teadvus is studied through questions about levels of consciousness, wakefulness, phenomenology, self-awareness, and the distinction between phenomenal experience and cognitive access. Researchers use behavioral measures and neuroimaging to study conscious content and its neural correlates.

See also: Consciousness, Awareness.