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Copyright © 1997, Jay Ligda.  All rights reserved.  Published by Humans in the Universe and Jay Ligda.

Evolution of Self-Awareness

      Names were created as "a carry-over of nouns into names for individual persons" (Jaynes, 1976, p. 136).  This naming of persons intensifies the relationship.  Shortly thereafter would come the word "I" as people learned to name themselves (Jaynes, 1976).  Self-awareness must have evolved at some point, possibly related to the word "I."  The word "I" gave individuals the capability of visualizing there selves within their imagination.  This would lead to self-awareness as an extension of the evolution of languageSelf-awareness gave individuals control over their own actions as they could play out scenarios within their imaginations and chose action based on the imagined results (Jaynes, 1976).  There is, however, some evidence that contradicts this theory and implies that self-awareness may not have evolved as an extension of language.

by Jay Ligda

(This work is a all or part of an original work first published/written for John. F. Kennedy University:  Final Integrative Project., Mar1996.)


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References

  • Jaynes, J. (1976).  The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.  Boston, MA:  Houghton Mifflin.
  • Pearson, D. & Shaw, S. (1982).  Life Extension:  A Practical Scientific Approach.  New York, NY:  Warner.

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