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I’m interested in the idea of a conscience, and I wonder how it relates to having an I-function. We seem to have defined the I-function as consciousness, that is, being aware of ourselves and being able to think and know that we are thinking. I think about having a conscience in the same way as Maggie: you’re used to it and find it kind of nice if you have one, but you don’t care if you don’t have one. I think about consciousness in this same way- it’s impossible for me to imagine what it would be like to be unaware of myself, but if I weren’t aware, I wouldn’t be able to think that. But I don’t think consciousness and having a conscience are the same thing. In fact, I think that having a conscience requires someone to be conscious (have an I-function), but being conscious does not necessarily mean you have a conscience. (Sorry, I hope this is not confusing, I wish the two words were not so alike!) For example, all humans should have an I-function unless they have a severe mental defect. But how about sociopaths- they don’t seem to have a conscience. They seem to be aware of their actions, but they don’t seem to understand or care about whether their actions are good or bad for other people. What IS the conscience? Is it a “box” connected to the I-function that helps us evaluate our actions? Or is it just a construct we came up with and not localized in the mind?

Do nonhuman animals have an I-function? And do they have a conscience? They seem to be able to learn the difference between “right” and “wrong.” My dog gets a guilty look when he has done something “bad” like eating candy. But perhaps this is anthropomorphization and they just learn humans’ reactions to their behaviors and they know that they will be rewarded or punished based on specific behaviors.

On a slightly different note, I also wonder what role feelings and emotions play. Has anyone else seen the movie “Equilibrium?” I thought many parts of it were unrealistic but it raised a lot of interesting questions for me. It’s about a creepy future in which everyone is forced to take a drug that suppresses emotion and feeling. One problem I had with the movie is that the characters still seemed to have personalities and be somewhat attached to each other when they supposedly couldn’t feel, but the main character has to start feeling before he gains what I recognize as a conscience. It seems to me that emotions are necessary for personality and attachments to other people. I guess I am just wondering if emotion is part of the I-function, something that comes about because of it, or independent of it. How are emotions, the conscience, and consciousness related? What causes each person to be a unique individual? (Obviously there are biological differences, but do they affect the person’s I-function, or what?)