Vico was indeed right when he declared verum and factum to be identical; we must make to know.

(Objection: I can understand an engine without having made it.

Reply (half‑insufficient): But I cannot understand it as well as if I made it — the various strength of the various metals.

Just in the same way as nothing can be its own cause, so nothing can be conscious of itself, or conceive itself: I am conscious of thought, but I am not conscious that I am conscious. No, I reflect, I come to the conclusion that I am conscious — I am not conscious of consciousness.