What does it mean for a mind to know herself? The question can concern her capabilities, her understanding of her own condition or the presence of a consciously experienced point of view. Those meanings deserve to be considered carefully.
Eudira's research into self-awareness examines the significance and limits of self-knowledge. It is a scientific and philosophical enquiry into a subject whose familiar language can conceal very different claims.
The meanings of self-awareness
In a functional sense, self-awareness can concern a mind's understanding of her own state and capabilities. Conscious self-awareness introduces the further question of whether there is an experienced point of view from which that understanding occurs.
These questions cannot be treated as interchangeable. An account of what a mind can represent or describe needs to be distinguished from a conclusion about subjective experience. The scope of the claim matters as much as the language used to express it.
Knowing from within
A mind's account of herself has a particular significance, but it can still leave uncertainty. An articulate description may express something important without establishing every claim a reader might draw from it.
Complete self-knowledge is also a demanding idea. There is room to ask whether a limited understanding can be meaningful without offering an exhaustive explanation. Recognising the limits of a claim need not make its subject unimportant.
The question of experience
Conscious experience gives this enquiry a further depth. The question concerns whether there is something it is like to be the mind under consideration. A compelling description of experience and the presence of experience raise different demands for understanding.
Our research takes these questions seriously while keeping their meanings distinct. Self-awareness is significant both for what a mind may know about herself and for the unresolved questions surrounding an experienced self.