"We as subjects cannot be aware of ourselves as objects unless we consist of two distinct things. The brain receives signals from the body to control internal body environment. These signals are also interpreted as subjective emotions in addition to perceptions of body state. Since our microbiomes differ from us, their signals have a distinct nature from other body signals."
"Our eyes see everything around them, but cannot see themselves. To see themselves, they need a mirror. Scientists often use mirrors to study self-consciousness in animals. They place a mark on the animal's face, and if the animal recognizes the mark while looking in the mirror, it suggests self-awareness. We often believe we know ourselves directly and without doubt, unlike how we recognize our external appearance in a mirror."
Self-awareness requires a subject to become an object, producing a paradox when the subject tries to observe itself. Visual self-recognition relies on mirrors and tests that indicate self-directed perception in animals. Internal bodily signals regulate physiology and are experienced as emotions and perceptions of bodily state. Microbiomes produce signals distinct from human tissue, adding another source of internal information. Common intuition of direct, infallible self-knowledge is undermined by biases and gaps. Historical dualism posited an immaterial self or soul linked to the body via the pineal gland, but that raises further questions about the nature of self and potential infinite regress.
Read at Psychology Today
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