If there really is no conductor inside him yet, perhaps there is in fact no self yet, and if no self perhaps there is no experience either, nothing at all. . . I must agree that, in theory anyway, there could be no kind of consciousness within this little body, no inner life, nobody at home to have an inner life. But then, as I open my eyes and look at him again, any such scepticism melts. Look. . . Someone in there is surely looking back at me, someone is smiling, someone seems to know my face, someone is reaching out his tiny hand. . .
Philosophers think one way, but fathers think another.
I can hardly doubt there are sensations being registered inside this boy, willed actions initiated, memories retrieved. However disorganized his life may be, he's surely not totally unconscious . Yet I realize I can't leave it there. The problem is that if there are these experiences occurring in the baby boy, they presumably have to belong to an experiencer . Every experience has to have a corresponding subject whose experience it is.