philosophy

Definition

Morin's Four Levels of Consciousness

Alain Morin proposed four levels of Consciousness::

  1. Unconsciousness: the absence of consciousness, including sensorimotor information processing
  2. Consciousness: a minimal level of consciousness in which one has subjective experience of local states (qualia).
  3. Self awareness: this is where a distinction between public and private knowledge emerges. One now has an inner monologue, a concept self, and is able to form symbolic representations.
  4. Meta self awareness: the logical conclusion of self awareness if we simply “scale up” the reflective aspect, so that one’s reflection contains a reflection. It is where one becomes aware that one is aware.