Radical Self-Awareness
Many think that the subject of awareness can't be aware of itself as it presently is, any more than the fingertip can touch itself. Here it is argued that [1] the subject of awareness can be present-moment aware of itself non-thetically, and that in exceptional circumstances [2] the subject can be present-moment thetically aware of itself. Concerning [1], the sense is given in which [i] all awareness involves a subject of experience, and in which [ii] awareness is a property of the subject of experience. If one accepts that [iii] all awareness comports awareness of itself, and adds that [iv] awareness of a property of x is ipso facto awareness of x, one can derive [1]. Indeed one can derive [3] the subject of awareness is always non-thetically present-moment aware of itself. With regard to [2], it is argued that attentive present-moment self-awareness is achievable in certain meditative states.
Keywords: self-awareness, self-knowledge, thin subject, subject of awareness, non-thetic self-awareness, subject-awareness, identity thesis, thetic self-awareness, pure, consciousness experience, mental reflexivity, self-luminous
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