vetëdijen

Vetëdijen, commonly rendered as self-awareness or self-consciousness, is the Albanian term for the capacity to recognize oneself as a distinct entity and to reflect on one’s own mental states, emotions, and intentions. The word combines vetë, meaning self, with the root for knowledge to denote knowledge of the self.

In philosophy and cognitive science, vetëdijen is discussed in relation to consciousness and metacognition. It can refer to a pre-reflective sense of being a subject of experience as well as a higher-order, reflective awareness in which one can think about one’s own thoughts, feelings, and identities. Some theories treat self-awareness as a higher-order representation, while others emphasize embodied, first-person experience.

Developmentally, self-awareness emerges gradually. Infants show rudimentary self-recognition in tasks such as the mirror test, typically around 18 to 24 months, and later develop more sophisticated reflective self-knowledge. Across species, there is ongoing debate about the extent and nature of self-awareness, with tests yielding mixed results.

In practice, self-awareness is central to areas such as psychology, education, and mental health. It supports emotion regulation, perspective-taking, and ethics. Mindfulness and certain therapeutic approaches aim to increase self-awareness. In discussions about artificial intelligence, questions arise about whether machines can or should attain vetëdijen, and what such a status would entail legally and morally. See also: consciousness, metacognition, self-identity, mirror test.