So forget about the case of sentience vs consciousness.

What about the cases of sentient beings being unconscious?

Confused yet?

If bogged down, remember that you are conscious and sentient.

And in the end: Relationships are all that matter.

Such sentience without consciousness, I admit, we cannot imagine: not because it never occurs in us, but because, when it does, we describe ourselves as being ‘unconscious’. And rightly. The fact that animals react to pain much as we do is, of course, no proof that they are conscious; for we may also so react under chloroform, and even answer questions while asleep. How far up the scale such unconscious sentience may extend, I will not even guess.

-C.S. Lewis, The Problem Of Pain (Amazon)

Ok, so what is the difference between sentience vs consciousness?

Sentience is being alive in a way that allows one to experience, be aware of, and feel their life around them.

Consciousness – is a step below sentience.

Consciousness is a kind of subjective awareness of reality.

All sentient things are conscious – but not all conscious things are necessarily sentient.

Lewis shows this by describing three sensations, A, B, and C.

There is a large difference between existing in states A, B, and C – or being able to perceive A outside of B, B outside of C, and “self” outside of all three.

I think this matters in regard to understanding the problem of pain because not all pain is necessarily perceived in the same way.

Did that make any sense?

But at this level we must still distinguish sentience from consciousness. If you happen never to have heard of this distinction before, I am afraid you will find it rather startling, but it has great authority and you would be ill-advised to dismiss it out of hand.

-C.S. Lewis, The Problem Of Pain (Amazon)