Quote:
Originally Posted by Photonate
Hello. I'm just wondering what others take is on if being able to question and ponder the nature of one's existence would be considered an ability more of sentience, or consciousness, or perhaps both.
I know those 2 things are often taken to be the same but are technically different, so like I said I'm just wondering if the ability to question existence is more exclusive to one or the other, or both/either one would give the ability.
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Webster Dictionary's definitions:
Consciousness: : the quality or state of being aware especially of something within oneself
b
: the state or fact of being
conscious of an external object, state, or fact
c
: awareness especially
: concern for some social or political cause The organization aims to raise the political consciousness of teenagers.
2
: the state of being characterized by sensation, emotion, volition, and thought
: mind
3
: the totality of conscious states of an individual
4
: the normal state of conscious life regained consciousness
5
: the upper level of mental life of which the person is aware as contrasted with unconscious processes
Sentience: feeling or sensation as distinguished from perception and thought
The difference between the two:
To be conscious is to be aware and have a subjective experience with the world around you. I think it is an umbrella term used to encompass other words like: awareness, sentience, perception, reasoning, thinking, analyzing, etc.
Sentience is when you have positive/negative experiences from external input. I.e. you touch a hot radiator and burn your hand, that is a negative experience. So sentience is your ability to feel, to be conscious and aware of how your external environment effects you.