The authors lay out the main principles of French philosopher Rene Descartes’ concept of self-consciousness. They reveal its connection to contemporary notions of rational and irrational consciousness. They also project individual thinking development stages noted by Descartes
onto self-image building stages passed by each child. The authors describe the self-consciousness formation features in children at preschool age and stress out the specificity of the development of levels of rational and irrational self-consciousness.
Keywords: self-awareness; rational consciousness; irrational consciousness; preschool age; self-image; self-concept; Descartes.
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