Speaking about this topic is already hard. It's not like the words needed can be learned in observing the world. There is a lot of reflection going on to sharpen their meaning to the nuance that's needed for serious discussion.

Conscious, self-aware, sentient, thinking, to name just a few, mean quite different things - not only in themselves, but also per philosophical school of thinking their connections and subdivisions are different.

Plenty of room for misunderstanding...

I think it was Augustinus who said about time "when no one asks me I know what it means". And then went on a journey to try to understand what it is that he knows.