Question: I have seen the following argument in several places:

> 
> Consciousness cannot be an illusion, and it surely exists.
> 
> 
> An illusion is perceiving something to be true when this something is not actually the case. "Perceiving" and "being conscious of" can be taken to be synonymous, so saying that consciousness is an illusion is a contradiction.
> 
> 
> 

The argument is very strong as it relies on semantics.

**What is the first written philosophical account of this argument?**

Answer: 
Anaxogoras, of Clyzomanae in Asia Minor, around 500 BC write of *nous* as an ordering force in the cosmos:

> 
> B12: *Nous* is unlimited and self-ruling and has been mixed with no thing; but is alone itself, by itself ... and *nous* has control over all things that have soul, both the larger and the smaller; and *nous* controlled the whole revolution, so that it started to revolve in the beginning.
> 
> 
> 

Roughly a century earlier, in Miletus, Thales had supposed (reported by Aristotle in *On the Soul*):

> 
> all things have souls
> 
> 
> 

In the scriptural corpus of Vedantic Philosophy, the [principal Upanishads](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muktik%C4%81) have a composition date around the turn of the 1st milleneum BCE; the *Eesha Upanishad*, has:

> 
> The Self is one. Unmoving, it is swifter than the mind. The senses lag, but Self runs ahead. Unmoving it outruns pursuit. Out of Self comes the breath that is the life of all things.
> 
> 
> 

and

> 
> The Self is everywhere, without a body, without a shape, whole, pure, wise, all-knowing, far-shining, self-depending, all transcending; it assigns to every period, it's proper duty.
> 
> 
> 

The Self, is sometimes translated as Consciousness; earlier translations had used soul, which had distinctly Christian overtones - which is possibly why Yeats opted for Self in the collaborative translation, excerpted above; (and possibly, the same artifact of translation is apparent in the translations of the Greek above).
Upanishads are earlier recorded arguments on consciousness and other internal phenomena.
You can browse various translations of these scriptures in English.

P.S. It seems any reference to Indian Philosophies are getting negative voting on this site. 

Edit: Aitareya Upanisad from the rigveda which is older than any given scripture.

An English translation of one of the Sloka:

> 
> III-i-3: This One is (the inferior) Brahman; this is Indra, this is Prajapati; this is all these gods; and this is these five elements, viz. earth, air, space, water, fire; and this is all these (big creatures), together with the small ones, that are the procreators of others and referable in pairs – to wit, those that are born of eggs, of wombs, of moisture of the earth, viz. horses, cattle, men, elephants, and all the creatures that there are which move or fly and those which do not move. **All these have Consciousness as the giver of their reality; all these are impelled by Consciousness; the universe has Consciousness as its eye and Consciousness is its end. Consciousness is Brahman.** 
> 
> 
> 

Here you guys can find numerous iterations of consciousness word.

Other Upanishad from Rigveda:

Aitareya 

Atmabodha 

Kaushitaki 

Mudgala 

Nirvana 

Nadabindu 

Akshamaya 

Tripura 

Bahvruka

Saubhagyalakshmi