The Gradual Origin of Self-Consciousness

Abstract

It is often thought that being able to have I-thoughts is a definition of self-consciousness. But how can a creature develop such thoughts? In this chapter I will first show that using such a language-related definition of self-consciousness leads to a paradox: if that is what self-consciousness is, no one could ever come to be self-conscious. Then I will look at the question whether other animals than human beings have (self-)consciousness. I will sketch an evolutionary account of how living organisms might gradually acquire some form of consciousness and self-consciousness. In its most primitive form, life itself already means that there is a distinction between self and everything else, in that a living organism maintains its own organisation. In further steps towards a full-blown (self-)consciousness, the interplay between perception and movement will be crucial. More complex forms of perception reveal more aspects of the external world, but they are always already accompanied by an awareness of where the organism itself is, and what it can do in its surroundings. Thus, consciousness, as literally a point of view, is always at the same time self-consciousness. Consciousness and self-consciousness have developed gradually, and always hand in hand.