the type of consciousness we experience when we are conscious of external sensations
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Consciousness [SEP] Introduction
Consciousness at its simplest is "sentience or awareness of internal or external existence". Despite centuries of analyses, definitions, explanations and debates by philosophers and scientists, consciousness remains puzzling and controversial, being "at once the most familiar and most mysterious aspect of our lives". Perhaps the only widely agreed notion about the topic is the intuition that it exists. Opinions differ about what exactly needs to be studied and explained as consciousness. Sometimes, it is synonymous with 'the mind', other times, an aspect of it. In the past it was one's "inner life", the world of introspection, of private thought, imagination and volition.