This is a proposal for a two-day symposium and associated book entitled, """"""""Self and Consciousness: Roots of Humanity?"""""""" The purpose of the conference is to elucidate the many ways in which self and consciousness interrelate. This will lead to substantial increases in the understanding of both self and identity (by identifying the ways in which personal and social self-definition depend on consciousness, and under what conditions, and with what effects, consciousness gives rise to self-consciousness) and consciousness (by specifying the diverse ways in which self and identity are implicated in the many facets of consciousness). The concepts of self/identity and consciousness each have recently come to the fore in the social and behavioral sciences. However, the ways in which these multidimensional constructs are connected has received limited attention. Further, existing work on self and consciousness is piecemeal and fragmented, spread across a wide range of topics and studied by scholars from diverse disciplines. The symposium will identify, organize, and prioritize a set of theoretical questions, investigative approaches, and empirical findings pertaining to the role of self and identity as antecedents, accompaniments, and consequences of consciousness. In doing so, the conference/book will set an agenda for future research in this area and point toward prevention and treatment strategies for mental illnesses involving disturbances of self and/or consciousness. The symposium will be structured as follows: (1) Where we came from - Self and consciousness in """"""""prehuman"""""""" species (are humans really unique?) and through human history (is there something special about modern self and consciousness?); (2) Where we are now: Humans as biological beasts and cognitive creatures - The brain and mind as biological and cognitive systems underlying self and consciousness; (3) Where we are now: Humans as social beings-The social underpinnings of self and consciousness, including how self and consciousness emerge in face-to-face interactions over the course of development and how societal belief systems impact (and often disturb) the self and consciousness of individuals; (4) Where we might go - Where humans will likely go in the future, including how human selves and consciousness might be changed by interacting with computers and related electronic media and the possibility of the construction of """"""""conscious computers with selves."""""""" Each topic will be addressed by two speakers followed by a discussant. An edited volume based on the conference will be published by Oxford University Press. This book will not be a simple proceedings collection. The editor and an independent referee will read each paper. The editor will synthesize the critiques and send them to each author, who will then revise his/her contribution. In addition, the associated published book will have an introductory chapter that describes the volume's themes and organization, and a concluding chapter that summarizes the chapters and highlights emergent issues.
