Single Idea 9319

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / b. Essence of consciousness]

Full Idea

Is consciousness just a special type of self-awareness, or is being self-aware a special way of being conscious?

Gist of Idea

Is consciousness a type of self-awareness, or is being self-aware a way of being conscious?

Source

Robert van Gulick (Mirror Mirror - Is That All? [2006], Intro)

Book Reference

'Self-Representational Approaches to Consciousness', ed/tr. Kriegel,U /Williford,K [MIT 2006], p.11


A Reaction

This is a really good key question, which has hovered over the debate since Locke's definition of a person (as 'self-aware'). I take the self to be a mechanism of most brains, which is prior to consciousness. Maybe the two are inseparable.