RE: Sam Harris On Defining Consciousness
August 25, 2015 at 12:53 pm
(This post was last modified: August 25, 2015 at 1:01 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
I think you're using the term consciousness or awareness where I would use the term self consciousness or self awareness, Jorg (but also in cases that I would use other terms like sapience - consciousness seems to mean -much- more to you than it does to me). As in a hand "with a mind of it's own", that's an explicit statement of identity. That a structure like a hand could present the effect we might attribute to awareness shouldn't be surprising, organisms simpler than our hands seem to be conscious, aware - even those we don't presume them to be self conscious, or self aware. That;s why I find the distinction useful. Response, imo, implies awareness of environment, but not, necessarrily, awareness of self, and certainly nothing as concentrated or singular as an individual mind, whether it's own or some other "x".
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