When did human conscienceness develop?

Question

When did we become aware of our existence and cease to live on instinct alone?

Answer 1

It was a gradual process...we can't really pick a date and say "that's where conciseness began."

If we were going to create a line of before and after conciseness, placing it around when artwork started to develop would probably be a good ballpark time period.

But, we have not abandoned instincts at all, they still play a large part in our actions (especially emotions). I also think that other primates act in ways which are in keeping with having conscience thought. Some of them are so human-like that I wonder if they have developed a language (past that of just emotional grunts) of their own, even if we don't understand it.

Answer 2

Here's something to think about. In an interview, Deepak Chopra was asked, "What's the biggest spiritual misconception we have as a culture today?" Chopra answered that it was the idea that somehow the physical universe came into being, and thought evolved as a construct of physical matter. He said it almost certainly happened the other way around. Thought existed first, and the physical universe evolved as a construct of this consciousness. Chopra says this is a thinking universe.

I believe the consciousness each human posesses is the same "substance" that predates the physical universe.

Answer 3

Personally, I know quite a number of people who show very little awareness of their existence, and, as far as I can tell, seem to live on instinct alone.

Nevertheless, human beings do seem to show a greater tendancy to think, be conscious, be aware, and evaluate the consequences of their actions in terms of long-term objectives, than other animals. All animals seem to have a capacity to learn. Even insects seem to have the ability modify their behaviour to achieve objectives based on experience. Bear in mind, a great deal of psychological research intended to bear on human behavior has been done with rats. So, obviously, they don't live on instinct alone, either.

I think what really distinguishes human beings from other animals is the extent to which we have developed language as an analytical and communications tool. While other animals communicate to some extent, and to varying degrees, a great deal of the modern human brain, mouth and throat is quite specifically specialized for language and communication. This appears to be the distinguishing characteristic of our species, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, which first developed in Africa perhaps 200,000 years ago, and became dominant worldwide 30-40,000 years ago.

So, I would say that human consciousness, as we understand it, first developed with the advent of truly modern man approximately 200,000 years ago, and is directly related to an improved capacity for speech and language through a restructuring of the brain and throat.

Answer 4

When Adam, as the first man, was lonely and God created him a helpmate.
conscienceness developed when they deliberately disobeyed Gods commandment to not eat the fruit of a certain tree.

Answer 5

human consciences developed the instant they learned
good from evil. individuals develop the same way.

Answer 6

The instant Adan and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit.

Answer 7

this is a good question for evolutionists....also...Why didn't any other species develop conscienceness and that being said we weren't even the first species on the planet?

Answer 8

We still live on instinct. Look at society, it's designed to make babies and support their lives. That's instinctual...my DNA tells me what to do!!!

Answer 9

When human see the light.

Answer 10

At around the age of three to four yeas old.