74 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



Different writers do not always use the term in the 

 same sense, and this divergence brings confusion. 

 I am disposed to limit the term to connote aware- 

 ness of self, if any limit whatever is placed upon it. 

 The difficulty with any definition of consciousness 

 is that it involves drawing sharp lines which do not 

 exist in nature. It is clear that there is a great 

 difference as regards awareness of self between a 

 man while eating his dinner with gusto and the same 

 man deeply absorbed in reverie. In the latter case, 

 he may be only vaguely aware of his personality 

 he is verging on the limits of consciousness accord- 

 ing to the arbitrary restriction just suggested. A 

 newly born child on opening its eyes for the first 

 time has sensations, but it is very questionable if it 

 has a sufficiently definite feeling of personality to be 

 called awareness of self. Such a child, according to 

 our definition, would not be conscious. Yet in the 

 conventional sense it would not be unconscious as 

 is a child in coma. But is it not legitimate and 

 useful to make a fairly sharp distinction between 

 this semiconsciousness of a child unaware of its 

 personality as distinguished from other person- 

 alities and the mental state of full consciousness 

 which is enjoyed by an adult engaged in physical 

 or mental rivalry with another organized being? 



If we object to limiting the term "consciousness" 

 in some such arbitrary way to its higher expression, 

 it is easy to see where we must land. For if the 

 newly born child has consciousness, that is, full 



