"You haven't established how you are self aware. You leap to the conclusion that it is obvious and it is obvious to everyone, therefore it is self-evident."
I made no such leap. I am aware of my self. The locus of that awareness is internal. I can confirm my observation by testing it with other rational persons who have a perspective on my condition. I have yet to find one that is unable to confirm my existence. In addition to that, other people report the same awareness of them selves and find confirmation from all rational sources. Therefor it is a nearly universally confirmable observation that is shared among rational human beings. This validates the idea of self evidence.
So, like self awareness, self evidence may be confirmed by the perspectives and evidence provided by others. The fact that there are values of good and bad is nearly universally confirmable by human beings. Particular idea forms are nearly universally confirmed to be associated with values of good or bad. Greed is confirmed as bad, oppression is confirmed as bad, corruption is confirmed as bad, generosity is confirmed as good, justice is confirmed as good, pollution is confirmed as bad, health is confirmed as good and on and on and on.
We can observe these attributes internally via self evident awareness and have that observation confirmed nearly universally by billions of rational human beings who are enough like ourselves to qualify as valid observers.
"But we know that self awareness in some measure can be flawed. Take a leg amputee. It is quite well known that leg amputees will "feel" heat, cold, pain in the amputated leg. They are aware. But other senses tell them that the leg is not there. There is an awareness conflict."
Illusion has little to do with it. Self awareness and self evidence as universal human observation of the human condition is ample evidence. In the case of an amputee, he can test the sensory information and others can confirm his observations or not. A rational amputee would not insist that there is a leg where observation contradicts his sensation. He can have real sensation in his nervous system, and be self aware of that sensation, with severed nerves or brain traumma. So what.I fail to see how your argument leads any where.
"Try to explain or show self awareness in the absence of a physical body. "
huh?
"Or perhaps we could postulate that the sensations from the "leg" are real. They are just coming from a different dimension [time] where the leg exists. "
huh? |
