Awareness and consciousness are related but distinct concepts.
Awareness vs Consciousness
Awareness refers to the ability to perceive and be aware of one’s surroundings and experiences. It is the state of being conscious of something. Consciousness, on the other hand, refers to the state of being aware of one’s own existence and experiences. It is the subjective experience of being alive and having thoughts, feelings, and sensations. In short, awareness is the ability to perceive, while consciousness is the subjective experience of that perception. It’s the ability to detect, recognize or be attentive to something, it can be considered as the raw material of consciousness. It’s the ability to have thoughts, emotions, sensations and self-awareness. It is often described as the “inner life” of an individual, and it is what allows us to have subjective experiences.
In short, awareness is the ability to perceive, while consciousness is the subjective experience of that perception.
It is possible to be aware of something without being fully conscious of it, for example, you can be aware of background noise without paying attention to it, and it is also possible to be conscious of something without being aware of it, for example, you can be conscious of your thoughts without being aware of what you’re thinking about.
Another way to think about the difference between awareness and consciousness is that awareness is the ability to detect and attend to environmental information, while consciousness is the process of interpreting and giving meaning to that information.
Types of Awareness
Awareness can be further divided into different types. For example, there is sensory awareness, which is the ability to perceive sensory information from the environment, such as sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. There is also emotional awareness, which is the ability to perceive and understand one’s own emotional state, as well as the emotional states of others. And there is also cognitive awareness, which is the ability to perceive and understand information related to mental processes such as memory, attention, and perception.
Levels of consciousness
On the other hand, consciousness can be thought of as having different levels or states. For example, there is wakeful consciousness, which is the state of being fully awake and alert, and there is also sleep consciousness, which is the state of being in deep sleep or in a dream state. Additionally, there are different theories of consciousness that propose different ways of understanding the concept, such as the integrated information theory, which proposes that consciousness arises from the integration of information in the brain, and the global workspace theory, which proposes that consciousness arises from the ability of certain brain regions to broadcast information to other regions.
Summary
In summary, awareness is the ability to detect and attend to environmental information, while consciousness is the process of interpreting and giving meaning to that information. Consciousness is more complex and multi-faceted than awareness, but awareness is a necessary ingredient for consciousness to exist.