more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 16634

[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 2. Unconscious Mind ]

Full Idea

Nothing can be in me of which I am entirely unaware.

Gist of Idea

I can't be unaware of anything which is in me

Source

René Descartes (Reply to First Objections [1641]), quoted by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 08.4

Book Ref

Pasnau,Robert: 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671' [OUP 2011], p.150

A Reaction

This I take to be a place where Descartes is utterly and catastrophically wrong. Until you grasp the utter falseness of this thought, the possibility of you (dear reader) understanding human beings is zero. Here 'I' obviously means his mind.

The 18 ideas with the same theme [workings of mind hidden from consciousness]:

21827 The movement of Soul is continuous, but we are only aware of the parts of it that are sensed [Plotinus]
16634 I can't be unaware of anything which is in me [Descartes]
7118 La Rochefoucauld's idea of disguised self-love implies an unconscious mind [Rochefoucauld, by Sartre]
2603 If we aren't aware that an idea is innate, the concept of innate is meaningless; if we do, all ideas seem innate [Locke]
12944 It is a serious mistake to think that we are aware of all of our perceptions [Leibniz]
19355 The soul doesn't understand many of its own actions, if perceptions are confused and desires buried [Leibniz]
21478 Half our thinking is unconscious, and we reach conclusions while unaware of premises [Schopenhauer]
21369 We have hidden and unadmitted desires and fears, suppressed because of vanity [Schopenhauer]
20116 Most of our lives, even the important parts, take place outside of consciousness [Nietzsche]
20120 Whatever moves into consciousness becomes thereby much more superficial [Nietzsche]
3488 Freud treats the unconscious as intentional and hence mental [Freud, by Searle]
22226 Since we are a consciousness, Sartre entirely rejected the unconscious mind [Sartre, by Daigle]
3486 Unconscious thoughts are those capable of causing conscious ones [Searle]
3503 Consciousness results directly from brain processes, not from some intermediary like information [Searle]
4691 If all mental life were conscious, we would be unable to see things, or to process speech [McGinn]
2964 How come unconscious states also cause behaviour? [Lockwood]
2951 Could there be unconscious beliefs and desires? [Lockwood]
21833 Research suggest that we overrate conscious experience [Flanagan]