Human Consciousness: Role of the unconscious (Humans)

by David Turell , Wednesday, February 10, 2016, 15:08 (3207 days ago) @ dhw


> dhw: You mistakenly attributed BBella's comments to me, but you are quite right about the arts. As regards apes and other animals, far more of their activity is based on the unconscious than the conscious.-I knew BBella's comments as hers.-> dhw: It is our levels of awareness and self-awareness that mark us out as special! In terms of character formation, anyone who has lived with animals will know that they are different individually, and there can be no question that exactly like ourselves they are a mixture of nature and nurture. But because they lack our DEGREE of self-awareness, they are not able - as far as we know - to deliberately bring their subconscious minds to the surface as we can. It is this self-awareness that leads us to ask the questions which in turn lead us to expand our horizons so far beyond those of our fellow animals. Different in degree!-I've left your whole comment intact, because it reads exactly as I think and analyze, but with a different conclusion. You have perfectly described how different in kind are our mental processes and capacities, and try to imply it is just a little degree apart. It is a giant degree, that you would see by reading Adler, if you had the time. I'll send you a copy.