One may argue whether emotions and intuitions are present in all other forms of life but a good case can be made for at least some of them. Only our reason is truly exceptional, even an oddity. We take that for granted and because of this cavalier attitude we are at a loss to understand why we are so often in conflict, both within ourselves and with the world around us. Recent thinkers about consciousness promise either to explain or at least to clarify consciousness. But their densely reasoned academic and philosophical works leave the reader with no clearer idea of what consciousness might be.
Some scientists even see consciousness as a cognitive function.
In fact, there are theorists who believe that all living systems, without exception, are cognitive systems. In this book I assert that consciousness has nothing to do with cognition, assuming that cognition refers to rational processes. If we knew everything there is to know about our rational functions it would tell us nothing about consciousness. And neither would knowledge of any other human or animal function, be that perception, feeling, intuition, emotion, instinct, or what have you. What follows is based on both psychology and on common sense.