The realm of understanding and knowing is that of consciousness, not proto-consciousness. Starfish are not analysing anything (then again, neither are snails). However, they obviously feel their existence in some way.Consul wrote: ↑March 26th, 2020, 10:32 pm @Greta
Note that to say that there can be no partial phenomenal consciousness is not to say that there can be no partial introspective/reflective consciousness of one's phenomenal consciousness. A subject can certainly be more or less introspectively/reflectively conscious (aware) of its experiences.
The evolutionarily first sentient animals were totally, completely introspectively/reflectively unconscious (unaware) of their sensations, lacking any degree of knowledge and understanding of them. That is, their phenomenally conscious, first-order conscious states were higher-order nonconscious states, because they had no intellectual awareness of their experiential states.
Besides, the idea of qualia being entirely about the brain makes no sense. The beating of the heart, the queasiness of the gut (or their interaction) - you won't have those sensations with only a brain. These systems seem to have an active role in the generation of qualia, where the sensations of life are filtered by the brain, which amplifies some aspects and ignores others.
Without the brain, it would be raw sensation. No thoughts. No strategies. No care. Just sensations and drives.