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7148
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The 'I' is a conceptual synthesis, not the governor of our being [Nietzsche]
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Full Idea:
The 'I' (which is not the same thing as the unitary government of our being!) is, after all, only a conceptual synthesis - thus there is no acting from 'egoism'.
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From:
Friedrich Nietzsche (Writings from Late Notebooks [1887], 01[87])
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A reaction:
Compare Sartre in Idea 7116. Since I am inclined to define the self as the controller of the brain, I am intrigued by the remark in brackets. Presumably he considers the self to be a fiction, and that animals don't have one. I think, probably, animals do.
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7138
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The 'I' is a fiction used to make the world of becoming 'knowable' [Nietzsche]
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Full Idea:
I take the 'I' itself to be a construction of thinking, of the same rank as matter, thing, substance, individual, purpose, number: that is, only a regulative fiction used to insert a kind of 'knowability' into a world of becoming.
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From:
Friedrich Nietzsche (Writings from Late Notebooks [1887], 35[35])
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A reaction:
Personally I consider the 'I' to be a very real brain structure, which controls the multitude of brain operations, and focuses them on the survival and success of the organism.
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4527
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Perhaps we are not single subjects, but a multiplicity of 'cells', interacting to create thought [Nietzsche]
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Full Idea:
The assumption of one single subject is perhaps unnecessary; perhaps we are a multiplicity of subjects, whose interaction and struggle is the basis of our thought and consciousness, an aristocracy of 'cells' in which dominion resides equally.
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From:
Friedrich Nietzsche (The Will to Power (notebooks) [1888], §490)
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A reaction:
A nice combination of Humean scepticism, and an anticipation of the modularity of mind. Was Nietzsche thinking about evolution? It goes with his doubts about reason (if we are run by a committee).
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