Pursuing praxis

Homework, discussion, and thought-provocation. I won’t tell you how long it took me to achieve a diagramatic level of clarity on this.

Numbers in the diagram explicated below. 

1 & 2. Existence is identity. That which exists has identity; that which has identity, exists. This one fact can be viewed from two perspectives:
     1. Existence. "It is." This concept differentiates a thing from nothing. This is the primary identification of consciousness.
     2. Identity. "It is." This concept differentiates one thing from another. A second step in cognition.

The context and purpose of the two concepts differ, but they name the same fact.

3 & 4: To talk of things (which exist), requires awareness of them.
     3. This is the fact of concsiousness. Consciousness exists.
     4. Consciousness is awareness of something which exists. Consciousness is awareness of existence. As a part of existence (#3), and dependent on it (#7), consciousness is and can only be conscious of that which exists. Consciousness exists (#3), and it is an awareness of something that exists (#4).

5. Because consciousness exists, and because existence is identity, consciousness has identity. Its identity is: awareness of existence.

6. Because consciousness has an identity, it exists.

7. Consciousness implies existence, but existence as a fact does not imply consciousness. Thus, existence is prior to and independent of consciousness. Conversely, consciousness is existentially (and functionally) dependent on existence. See #1.

You can also visualize #7 by collapsing all the double-sided arrows, which function as equals-signs, leaving the one up-ward vector going from existence to consciousness.

Alternatively, I could have drawn a circle-diagram, with a little bubble labelled "consciousness" nested with a big bubble labelled "existence," showing that the existence of consciousness is a sub-set of all that exists, and it participating in the fundamental properties of existence - namely identity. If existence = identity, then we can swap labels, from "Existence of all that exists" to "Identity of all that exists". And from "Existence of consciousness" to "Identity of consciousness." Both the existence and identity of consciousness are seen to flow from, and be dependent on, existence as such.

No surprises here, though I am tired of typing the word ‘existence.’