A fundamental piece…
‘Language is not an essential part or piece to consciousness. It IS an essential piece to obtaining the ability to reason and identify not only the existence of subjectivity but also having the awareness of subjectivity, thus making it a fundamental trait of the Self.’
If we think about consciousness long enough, we eventually see one big issue we repeatedly bump up against is how exactly do we measure consciousness? It can be argued that by sheer observation we can identify different species seem to carry varying forms or perhaps degrees of consciousness, if not from one another at least from us. So, does this suggest there are levels of consciousness? If so, what determines what level a species possess? In an interview with Colin Blakemore, he explains in order to explore this idea, let us think of perception, cognition and consciousness as different things.
He presents the jumping spider as an example. It has the ability to do things like track its prey and jump but comparatively to us, the spider seems to have little or no cognition, meaning it is pure perception based. My dog however, is unique to the spider. While he also appears to use pure perception, he can also observe using some level of cognition or thought. Unlike the jumping spider, he can communicate with me when he is hungry, hurt or if there is an intruder in the backyard, so it appears there is some form of cognition taking place. However, I could never sit down and have a cup of coffee with my dog and hold a lively debate on Kierkegaard and existentialism. As far as we know, humans are the only species capable of possessing perception, cognition and consciousness. So, what has to happen in order to make the leap from pure perception all the way to a perceptive cognitive conscious being? I would first like to suggest consciousness. Having and showing some awareness about your existence. We humans can answer yes to this and say we have and show awareness about our existence, but so does my dog. Ok, then what else has to be present to make the leap from my dog to me? There has to be something else besides just consciousness. I suggest subjectivity. The difference between my dog and me is that although he may have or be having a subjective experience, he is not aware of his own subjectivity, I am. Ok, let’s keep following this down. So, if a subjective consciousness is what is needed order to have a subjective reality like humans, then what distinguishes a subjective consciousness from a non-subjective one? Ownership. In order to have subjectivity, you have to possess the awareness of your own subjectiveness; take ownership over your experiences. ‘My experiences are different from yours.’ You understand you are the only one experiencing reality as you are experiencing it. They are yours and yours alone. This then begs the question, what allows us to take ownership? Language. Not just communicate, although that could lead to other levels of subjectivity, but our specific ability to speak and express our subjectivity to others who can understand. Language makes possible our ability to communicate our awareness of our subjectivity to others who understand what I am saying and validate by expressing they are experiencing the same thing. Why have I led us all the way here? Well, welcome to the bottom of my rabbit hole. I have been pondering this progression of thought for a month now and I keep returning to the same idea, if this line of thought seems viable, then that would suggest language is a fundamental piece of subjective consciousness.
My Thoughts…
Without knowing where to turn, I decided to reach out to someone in the field, Professor of Creative Writing Patricia Brown from Johns Hopkins University or as I like to call her, my Aunt Pat. I also contacted retired educator and current author Andrew (Andy) Brown or as I like to call him, Uncle Andy. I sent them my train of thought I just rawly presented in the above text. I knew there had to be examples disproving this I missed or assumptions I was unknowingly making, therefore I wanted to get the perspective from those who better understand language and its role in our species. Below is a recording from one of many brainstorming sessions between my Aunt Pat and I over the phone.
We both admit there were a lot of pieces we did not know and some points warranted more time to understand the information, but overall we seemed to agree on the premise. I cannot describe the feeling of receiving validation in your efforts from someone with expertise in the field you are entering. But as hopeful as that feeling was, the importance I found from this interaction was not measured in successfully agreeing or disagreeing on this theory, it was the knowledge and understanding gained on both sides by discussing and debating two different experiences with the same idea or notion.