Consciousness and Self-Consciousness in Biological Evolution

If one thought of consciousness as an epiphenomenon of brain activity, one would need to explain how it is possible that the same brain is capable of losing this consciousness and then reacquiring it a few hours later, resuming the unity of consciousness from where it was interrupted. Whatever the relationship between complexity and consciousness, we can agree that complex systems allow for a greater and more structured manifestation of consciousness. If, therefore, the goal of biological evolution were simply the manifestation of consciousness, we would indeed notice aggregation into organic and living systems that are increasingly complex. Nothing would prevent evolution from developing according to increasingly intricate and complex aggregates without ever seeking the organic and individual independence that is instead observed. In light of the facts, what seems to be the goal of biological evolution is the achievement not only of consciousness, but also of self-consciousness. If by consciousness in this context we mean the experience of events and sensations, by self-consciousness instead we mean being conscious of one's own state of consciousness or the constitution of a nucleus of consciousness that can assert itself as I, distinguish itself from the rest of the world and deliberate volitional acts.

The Goal of Biological Life

We have said that we believe that the goal of Earth is to assimilate solar energies to be one day in its evolution reabsorbed by it. Biological life begins precisely to facilitate such assimilation in marine depths. Through the first bacteria and archaea, a large part of solar energies that would have been reflected or not assimilated are dispersed in water in the form of heat and made available to terrestrial natural phenomena. But the assimilation of only physical energies given by photons would be insufficient and it is therefore necessary to develop higher and more complex life forms that can manifest higher forms of consciousness. This is achieved through oxygenic photosynthesis. With this, life frees itself from the physical constraints of marine depths. The modification of the terrestrial environment through the Great Oxidation allows laying the foundations for biological life to structure itself outside of water. After the Great Oxidation, which occurred about 2.4 billion years ago, we have the possibility of the establishment of eukaryotic cells throughout Earth. These cells constitute the solid foundation on which a life complex enough to support higher forms of consciousness can be structured. From the development and organization of eukaryotic cells arise fungi, plants and animals: plants with the purpose of transforming solar energies into organic compounds and vital energies and thus favoring the assimilation by Earth of the Sun's vital energy; the consciousness of animals instead is more impulsive and instinctive and their action is reflected on the emotional aspect of Earth rather than on the physical or vital one. More complex organisms allow the manifestation of higher levels of consciousness, but at the same time, as we have noted, nature seeks to maintain a physical autonomy that must facilitate not only the impulse toward consciousness but also toward self-consciousness. By its nature, self-consciousness presupposes a demarcation, a limit between what is I and what is not I, a limit that in Man is generally identified with one's own skin, a sign of demarcation between internal and external: what belongs to our body and we daily call I and what does not belong to it and what we call external world. In the absence of such well-defined demarcation limits, self-consciousness would be impossible or at least very difficult. One of Nature's impulses is the push toward self-consciousness and this impulse is seen from the beginning in biological evolution with the formation of the first cell membrane, the first separator capable of distinguishing between the interior and exterior of the cell, the first seed of self-consciousness. We can therefore highlight two impulses that in our opinion act in this first phase of the evolution of biological life: an impulse toward organic complexity, to allow the manifestation of higher states of consciousness; an impulse toward individualization, to allow self-consciousness. The coordinated action of these impulses leads to increasingly complex organic aggregates, but which maintain individual characteristics. The individualizing action acts as a specializing force of cells, while the impulse toward organic complexity directs them toward mutual coordination.

Evolution of Man

It is common to confuse the concept of human evolution with that of evolution of the human body. This is because in the current state of our evolution, identification with our body is total. From our point of view, however, a distinction must be made between the human body, which has passed through various evolutionary phases over millions of years, and Man as a sentient being endowed with reason. It is difficult to provide a date that allows determining the historical moment in which we can speak...