Self-Consciousness and Consciousness of Self

To help address the question posed by Lilli Alanen of the continuity of the individual along the path from bondage to freedom envisioned in Spinoza’s Ethics, this chapter draws a distinction between self-consciousness and consciousness of self. Self-consciousness is the awareness proper to striving to persevere, or desire, whereas consciousness of self involves imagining the self as an object and is proper to both pride and acquiescentia in se ipso. While our imaginations of our selves can be better or worse, as imaginations they are always imperfect. The intuitive knowledge proper to virtue allows for continued self-consciousness, but not consciousness of a continuing self.