Single Idea 19438

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / c. Parts of consciousness]

Full Idea

Our great perceptions and our great appetites of which we are conscious, are composed of innumerable little perceptions and little inclinations of which we cannot be conscious.

Gist of Idea

Our large perceptions and appetites are made up tiny unconscious fragments

Source

Gottfried Leibniz (Letters to Remond de Montmort [1715], 1715 §2)

Book Reference

Leibniz,Gottfried: 'Leibniz Selections', ed/tr. Wiener,Philip P. [Scribners 1951], p.554


A Reaction

I think this is a wonderfully accurate report of how the mind is, in comparison with the much more simplistic views presented by most philosophers of that era. And so much understanding flows from Leibniz's account.