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The 17th century French philosopher René Descartes famously said, “I think, therefore I am.” And what Descartes meant by that was he knew he existed because he was conscious of himself; what is called self-consciousness. Self-consciousness is a uniquely human attribute that is shared by all non-impaired individuals. However, consciousness and self-consciousness are two very different things, and the distinction is important. Humans, for some reason, are uniquely endowed with consciousness and self-consciousness.
Dogs make wonderful pets; they are attentive, smart, loyal, and conscious. But whatever it is that dogs think about, dogs do not sit around thinking about what it means to be a dog. Self-consciousness has been given many definitions. For our purposes we will say that self-consciousness is “what it is like to be you.” How you perceive yourself sitting in a crowded room, how you perceive the person next to you. It can be thought of as what your mind is saying to yourself, all these things make up “what it is like to be you.”
What we are talking about is uniquely human. Evolutionists argue that we humans sit at the apex of the evolutionary chain that began in some stinky pond water, moved on slowly step by step to the primates, who in turn evolved into human beings; from goo, to you, via the zoo. But there is a huge consciousness gap between the animal kingdom, and human beings. Those in the animal kingdom are conscious of light and dark, sound and movement, predator, and prey. However, dogs do not contemplate what it means to be a dog simply because they lack self-consciousness; he does not think about what his existence means. The same is true of the “higher primates.” The orangutan may be intelligent, but he is not self-conscious.
Humans on the other hand, are truly self-conscious. Philosopher Anthony O’Hear explains; “A self-conscious person . . . does not simply have beliefs or dispositions, does not simply engage in practices of various sorts. He or she is aware that he or she has beliefs, practices, dispositions, and the rest. . . . A conscious animal might be a knower . . . but only a self-conscious being knows that he is a knower.”
Ultimately three individuals, or three persons, are required for true, and full self-consciousness. There must be a subject, an object, and a confirmer for an act of true self-consciousness to occur.
In spite of Descartes, a person stranded on a deserted island thinks but is not truly self-conscious. In the same way, if I am walking through the forest, much like any other animal, I see all of nature going on around me. I am taking in information based solely upon sensory perception. That is, what I can see, hear, touch, taste, smell. These senses are common to most animals.
Suppose I stop to talk to another human being who is in the forest on a hike with his son; we stop and begin talking about the beauty of nature all around us. At this point I am conscious of my surroundings, but I also have a degree of self-consciousness because I am thinking about these two people’s perception of myself, and I am engaging with the father in conversation. But I am not truly self-conscious until the boy adds to the conversation.
You see, in the boy speaking to me, he is confirming that both the father and I exist. The point of the matter is that it takes a minimum of three people in order for true self-consciousness to occur (on orthodox Christian doctrine, the Trinity is the minimum number of persons to achieve true self-consciousness, which is essential to true love). \\ Only human beings are conscious, and truly conscious of self; only the human species sits about and contemplates what it means to exist. In fact, determining what it means to exist is one of the Big Three questions that any worldview must answer. Those three questions are: “How did I get here;” “What does it mean to be human;” and “What will happen to me when I die?” Any viable worldview must logically answer these three questions, or it is considered a false worldview. One aspect of what it means to be human is that humans, and humans only, are truly self-conscious, but that is a subject for another day.
And yet, how is it that the brain can think? After all, the brain is just a bunch of atoms, right? The one characteristic that sets humans far above the rest of creation is man’s capacity for reasoning. But the big question is this: “How do you get from atoms to self-consciousness?” Or you might ask, how do you get from, say corn, to that part of the brain that allows us to reason? After all, corn is chemically made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and trace elements; atoms. And chemically, your brain operates on Endorphins, Serotonin, Oxytocin, and Dopamine. But guess what, those brain chemicals are made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and trace elements; atoms. An ear of corn, and the human brain. They are both made of the same base components, and that is, both composed of atoms. But do atoms dream? And from whence doest thou thoughts cometh? You are surely so much more than a bunch of atoms!
Join us again next week as we continue to look at how complex mental states can come from simple inert atoms. Ultimately, the answer here helps us answer the question: “Is God dead?”
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Ty B. Kerley, DMin., is an ordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics, and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife Vicki are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore, OK. You can contact him at: [email protected].
