RE: Without the Shedding of Blood There is No Remission of Sin
May 4, 2017 at 12:54 pm
(This post was last modified: May 4, 2017 at 1:20 pm by GrandizerII.)
(May 4, 2017 at 12:11 pm)SteveII Wrote:(May 4, 2017 at 11:40 am)Grandizer Wrote: What if consciousness is a spectrum? Where then is the line drawn between really conscious and not really conscious? Do human babies differ from non-human animals when it comes to consciousness?
No, because human babies are necessarily (it can be no other way) developing toward a known potential. Picking a point along the way to draw a line of value is arbitrary.
You quoted this from Wikipedia:
Quote:Consciousness is a loosely defined concept that addresses the human awareness of both internal and external stimuli. This can refer to spiritual recognition, psychological understanding, medically altered states, or more modern-day concepts of life purpose, satisfaction, and self-actualization.
Couldn't non-human animals be on the lower end of the spectrum of such consciousness, while humans are further along the spectrum? It doesn't seem like there is a strictly categorical difference between human and non-human consciousness. After all, empirical evidence has shown that, even in some non-human animals, there is some basic recognition of the self (mirror studies). Heard of Alex the parrot, who seemed to have been aware of the count and color of objects around him and even himself? You should google it.