In this kind of self-consciousness everything...

In this kind of self-consciousness everything, that is evaluation, decision making and orientation, has a national aspect and moves along a national orbit, whereas in class self-consciousness everything has a class aspect. Though national self-consciousness does not fall within the category of the consciousness of self-interest, yet it belongs to the family of selfishness.

It suffers from all the maladies and defects of selfishness, such as prejudice, partiality, over-looking one's own faults, conceit and vanity. As such, like class self-consciousness it also has no moral side. VI. Human Self-consciousness: It means consciousness of one's relation to all other human beings. Human self-consciousness is based on the philosophy that all human beings taken together form one single unit and are endowed with a 'common human conscience'.

A sense of love of humanity and fellow-feeling exists in all men. Sa'di, the world famous Persian poet says: "All men are like the organs of one body. A man who has no sympathy with others, does not deserve to be called a human being". That is the idea which is entertained by those who like Auguste Comte have been and are still in search of a religion of humanity.

That is also the fundamental principle of humanism which is more or less a prevailing philosophy subscribed by most of the broadminded people of our times. Humanism looks at all men as one single unit irrespective of their classes, nationalities, cultures, religious affiliations and races. It rejects every kind of discrimination and distinction. The charters of human rights issued in the world from time to time are also based on this philosophy.

They too preach such a kind of human self-consciousness. If this kind of self-consciousness is developed by an individual, his feelings and desires become human, his efforts are oriented towards humanity and his friendships and hostilities take a human colour. He begins to like knowledge, culture, healthy activities, human welfare, freedom, justice and kindness, and to dislike ignorance, poverty, cruelty, disease, feeling of suffocation and discrimination.

If developed, this kind of self-consciousness, in contrast with national self-consciousness and class self-consciousness, will have a moral significance. Though this kind of self-consciousness is more logical than any other kind of 'it and though there has been much fanfare about it, but in actual practice it is something which is comparatively rare. Why?