Single Idea 20115

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 1. Consciousness / d. Purpose of consciousness]

Full Idea

We could think, feel, will and remember, and we could also 'act', and yet none of this would have to enter our consciousness. The whole of life would be possible without, as it were, seeing itself in a mirror.

Gist of Idea

All of our normal mental life could be conducted without consciousness

Source

Friedrich Nietzsche (The Gay (Joyful) Science [1882], §354)

Book Reference

Nietzsche,Friedrich: 'The Gay Science', ed/tr. Kaufmann,Walter [Vintage 1974], p.297


A Reaction

He credits Leibniz with this line of thought. Nowadays the unconscious aspects of thought are a commonplace, not just from Freud, but from neuroscience. We have no idea how conscious other animals are. Nietzsche attributes consciousness to communication.