Consciousness

Recently I’ve been looking over the few articles I’ve written over at the Theory of Everything Laboratory to see if I still found what I wrote several months ago to be valid (ToE Lab is where I began trying, and hope to continue, to formulate “my philosophy” from the ground up). Now more than ever, after having been in Spain for several months, I find myself in agreement with what I wrote concerning consciousness. Hopefully someone else will find this interesting.

Implications of Consciousness

Consciousness involves a subjective self-awareness of one’s actions and experiences. Accomplishing such an awareness, however, requires the ability to conceive of other possibilities, other actions or experiences which do not belong (but could belong) to oneself. Without this ability there would be no consciousness, an individual would just be necessarily.

Creation of an Other

The ability to conceive of such possibilities involves the creation of an “other” of sorts within an individual, an other which, while still having direct access to the senses, physical drives, etc. is necessarily apart from this original, animalistic individual. The other may thus view things as from afar, or perhaps as in a mirror, and contemplate upon them. It is this other that is the source of the dialogue constantly present in one’s head, and only because of its standing as an other is this dialogue possible.

The Necessity of Language

Of course there is a prerequisite for this dialogue, and this is language. Without language it would be impossible for the other in consciousness to ever achieve its separation from the primary self, in fact impossible for such a separation to even be conceived. It is useless to contemplate the pre-language self, the self without consciousness, because in attempting to do so one necessarily uses language for its description and definition, and thus by default designates it as a consciousness of some sort. It is impossible to get outside of the totality of language and thus impossible to conceive of non-consciousness, or pre-language consciousness (both of which are the same).

Relationship Between Language and Consciousness

The above gives an idea then of a direct relationship between language and consciousness. Thus it follows that a much more rudimentary, simplistic language will in turn impose limits on the consciousness of an individual. Language, in short, determines what one can think, what one can be aware of, what one can conceive, and everything else relating to consciousness. For this reason it often takes time for new elements of language within any field (elements which are true creation) to take hold, to gain acceptance. Such a process involves an expansion of consciousness, and is much like teaching a child new things and often involves similar efforts by the creator. While we may only take consciousness back so far, i.e. to the most rudimentary language, there remain an infinite number of possibilities for its future expansion.

Summary

• Consciousness is the creation of a reflective “other” in opposition to the primary (perhaps best termed animalistic) self.
• For this other to interact with the primary self involves communication.
• Communication involves language.
• Thus, consciousness is determined by (and not possible without) language.

Kudos go out to Dushan over at Shtikl for giving me the opportunity to participate in ToE Lab.