Chapter Three—
3. Man: A Rational Being
Mind
"Consciousness," in the primary meaning of the term, designates a state: the state of being conscious or aware of
some aspect of reality. In a derivative usage, "consciousness" designates a faculty: that faculty in man by virtue of
which he is able to be conscious or aware of reality.
The concept of "mind" has a narrower application than that of "consciousness" and is associated specifically with
the concept of "reason" or ''rational faculty." This association provides the key to its definition and appropriate
usage.
In varying forms or degrees, consciousness is found in many species of animal (and perhaps all). But the capacity
to reason—to perform explicit conceptual integrations, guided by logic—is unique to man. It is his rational or
conceptual faculty that constitutes man's distinctive form of consciousness. It is to this form of consciousness that
the term "mind" applies.
"Mind" designates specifically man's consciousness (or form of consciousness)—in contradistinction to the forms
of consciousness exhibited by lower animals.
The Conceptual Level of Consciousness
It is characteristic of the state of contemporary thought that if one speaks of advocating a biologically oriented or
biocentric psychology, the listener is very likely to assume that one is concerned with studying man with his head
omitted, i.e., without reference to his mind or his power of conceptual thought.