Question about consciousness

[Suigintou]

Hi, so there was a question in my sac where it asked to; Explain the term "states of consciousness".
Would it have been wrong to say that it's an individuals level of awareness of their internal processes and external stimuli?

[mpathy]

That would be correct.

[Suigintou]

Hmm, I thought so too, but my teacher said that it had to indicate that there was a continuum of awareness. But I thought that saying 'level' would be pretty much the same thing.

[MagicGecko]

yep your correct 
but i guess your teacher is also right though
i think its because of william james that your teacher said that, according to william james consciousness is like a streams or a river because it is continuous and always changing.
so um yes even though your definition is very much correct i think you just had to add in this little bit.
(on the many exam papers i am doing there are a lot of william james questions like why did W.J liken consciousness to a river.....)

anyways hope i helped (^^)

[Suigintou]

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind.