Abstract

The long and rich tradition of consciousness studies should not lead us to neglect or abandon at the very beginning any of the theoretically possible kinds of approaches to this peculiar subject-matter, including the apophatic/negative one. This specific approach is suggested by the content of the parsimony principle, as well as by Ayer’s explication of privacy and the expression “over and above” used by Marcel to present the peculiarity of consciousness as a theoretical construct compared to other psychological constructs. The cognitive values of` this approach – in the forms of finding “not as usually described behaviors” first and “not as usually applied explanatory constructs” then – consist in characterizing and pointing out the extraordinary otherness of certain types of behaviors (actually studied and to be explained); the insufficiency of the current constructs for explaining them (i.e. behaviors); the necessary peculiarity of the construct to be used to explain them and the possible directions to search for its positive character, including its identifications as consciousness as a final consequence.