Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Most of the conscious thinking is secretly guided by instinct

"After having looked long enough between the philosophers lines and fingers, I say to myself: by far the greater part of conscious thinking must still be included among instinctive activities, and that goes even for philosophical thinking.  We have to relearn here, as one has had to relearn about heredity and what is "innate."  As the act of birth deserves no consideration in the whole process and procedure of heredity, so "being conscious" is not in any decisive sense the opposite of what is instinctive: most of the conscious thinking of a philosopher is secretly guided and forced into certain channels by his instincts."   Friedrich Nietzsche  Beyond Good and Evil

“It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.”  -- Bertrand Russell

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