Self-consciousness, distinguished from

Marx distinguishes men from other animals on the basis of (i) self-consciousness, (ii) intentionality, (Hi) language, (iv) tool-using, (v) toolmaking and (vi) cooperation. These are, of course, strongly interrelated, but sufficiently different to be discussed separately. Moreover, in a critical confrontation they do not all survive equally well. As one writer puts it, "we have seen in the last few decades a steady erosion of the putative hallmarks of man". ... 

The involuntary emergence of habits should be distinguished from the deliberate process of character planning that has been advocated by many philosophers, psychologists and economists. It is not clear that Marx ought to have been equally hostile to such methods for self-control, for if one s earlier self tries to limit or shape a later self, this is not a process going on "behind the back" of the person, but a conscious and (let us assume) rational activity. In the only place where Marx touches upon this problem, he nevertheless appears to be rather sceptical about the idea. 

A very important characteristic of the body s immune system is a capacity to distinguish between self and non-self, In terms of the immune system, the ability to make such distinctions proceeds at the biochemical level without conscious awareness of the individual. Less than a century ago, the ability of the body to distinguish self from non-self (foreign), at the biochemical level, was considered impossible. Over the yeais, however, much descriptive information accumulated which, without ample explanation, proved that the body does remember at the biochemical level. Seldom, for example, have medical records shown a second infection with mumps, measles, or smallpox, once an individual survived the first attack. The question, how does the body remember remained a mystery for many decades until the concept of the immune system was first outlined in a very general way. 

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