2/5's Week in reflection.

This week we learned about the birth of a new science: Psychology. Throughout the reading, I noticed a reoccurring theme of consciousness among Wundt, Brentano, and Kulpe. This underlying similarity led them to study memory, cognition, all umbrellaed by the idea of metacognition. It is interesting to see the definition of consciousness from Brentano's act psychology in the 1870s:
"Act psychology postulated intentionality in conscious acts. Individuals intended to do things, to see things, to experience things... a purpose to consciousness"
-LB-B pg. 49.
Where it was first noted that it was impossible for observers to report with accuracy their own states of consciousness. In the 1890s, Kulpe brought in the metacognition aspect linking our conscious behavior to a mental activity, associated with thinking about an event. Lastly, Wundt in 1912 made the assertion that:
"[Consciousness] consists of the sum total of facts of which we are conscions... the events present for the observer... [and] what the observer makes of that content (apprehension)."
-LB-B pg. 39.

I believe it is true that we have advanced so far because of metacognition; namely our conscious awareness and our ability to retain what we consciously process (hence the memory infatuation). What we are able to remember and the way we remember it speak to our differences among eachother. Moreso, our ability to remember and analyze our conscious events separate us humans from other living organisms; arguably a defining characteristic of what makes human minds superior. Studying individual differences of the mind lead to the birth of Psychology.

Being the dedicated sleep scientist that I am, I wonder if our sleeping state was viewed as a conscious awareness or an unconscious state during Wundt's time. Or if it was even thought about. Wundt's definition of consciousness is loose enough to incorporate the sleeper's awareness, although I disagree with Brentano's definition given that we lose intentionality in our dreams. What is your definition of consciousness? And where, if at all, do dreams fit in to that definition?