@fmf saidMaybe simpler:
Being able to perceive one's existence within an environment and to be aware of one's capacity to affect or be affected by others who also exist in that environment.
Consciousness is the ability to perceive one's capacity to affect or be affected by one's environment.
@secondson saidI'd certainly agree that the capacity to speculate ~ about abstract things, about the possibility and impossibility of things, and even about unknowable things ~ is a defining element of consciousness.
One aspect of consciousness is knowing one is finite, yet having the capacity to be conscious of the eternal.
@fmf saidI think our consciousnesses gives us the awareness of our capacities to think, of brain functions, but consciousness isn't the cause of those capacities.
I'd certainly agree that the capacity to speculate ~ about abstract things, about the possibility and impossibility of things, and even about unknowable things ~ is a defining element of consciousness.
Consciousness is the awareness of the finiteness of self in conjunction with, and in relationship to, the infinite and eternal.
I'm not saying this is the definitive definition.
@secondson saidNo, it certainly wouldn't qualify as a "definitive definition" [and the same might be said about my attempts to cobble one together] because "awareness of the finiteness of self" is only one particular aspect of awareness of self; the capacities we have that comprise consciousness are able to get to grips with countless other aspects of self than just "finiteness".
Consciousness is the awareness of the finiteness of self in conjunction with, and in relationship to, the infinite and eternal.
I'm not saying this is the definitive definition.
Same goes for "the infinite and eternal". Our capacities and faculties ~ our consciousness ~ enable us to address a far bigger range of philosophical questions than that. Indeed, one can have consciousness without spending any time at all considering "the infinite and eternal".