[MD] Intellectual activity

[aesuszynski]

Ham,

Below, you will find my comments to your comments.

 "However, inasmuch as
all consciousness is awareness on the part of a subject, a "self" is
implied."

Actually I never said anything about the non-existance of a "self" I said 
that one counld be conscious without being self-aware. Maybe a better term 
would be "subconscious", which I think is a part of being conscious. It's 
just not a part that we are always aware of . So the part of consciousness 
that an infant has access to is a part that is not aware of the separation 
between he and the other. That process takes time, maybe years to fully 
develop

""Self" has no empirical existence, hence the "blank slate"
connotation."

So you are saying that until I become self aware my self does not exist. I 
can buy that. But I am an other to others, correct? But I don't think Blank 
Slate applies here. Alice was born with a full array of capacities which are 
just waiting to be used in the effort of being a human being.

"What distinguishes "you" from "me" is the beingness with which you identify
as your experience.  In other words, until you incorporate objective
beingness into your reality, Alice doesn't exist. "

But Alice does exist for others until such time as I identify my self. Maybe 
this is all in a philosophical sense, but in a way you are agreeing with my 
observation about infants. I don't know if this is current thinking, but I 
remember leaning years ago, that a baby thinks of everything as part of 
itself. It is only through frustration, pain and then the reactions of 
others, that it begins to dawn on them that "hey those people are not me!!!" 
But that baby is certainly an individual well before that dawning, at least 
to others he is.

" Just when does a human individual begin?  And the answer will depend on 
how
> you define the individual.  I think you're correct in concluding that
> "self-awareness is being-conscious of being-conscious."  But can a living
> person be considered a human being if he or she has no self-awareness?"

Your terminology keeps changing...Individual/ self, consciousness/ 
awareness. I think these all have discrete meanings when you really consider 
them. And yes, a person can be considered an individual if he has no self 
awareness..

"Nature is a sophisticated system because it involves an infinitely
> differentiated process.  The essential source of differentiation, on the
> other hand, is quite simple: Difference arises from the absolute negation 
> of
> Nothingness.  This creates an other (awareness) divided from beingness 
> (the
> object(s) of awareness).  Thus, a simple definition for existence would 
> be:
> the proprietary awareness (appearance or experience) of a divided Essence"

Gotta give this one some more thought, this central to your thinking, right?

And, I said this...

." And then we're at the
same place again, the need to explain the mechanism
... Infinite recursion."

But what I meant to say is "infinite regress". And I don't think that 
applies either. See what happens when amatuers try to play this game?

Best, Alice

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