… they would have to have made, if such a thing is possible …
This is from The Genesis of Living Forms by Raymond Ruyer, translated by Jon Roffe and Nicholas B. de Weydenthal (1958, 2020):
… What psychologists call the dynamic unconscious is form, thematism, the primary consciousness of the organism manifesting itself in secondary consciousness. In terms of the theses of German romantic philosophy, which declared the unconscious older than consciousness and saw in it the primitive givenness on which consciousness was subsequently established, it is clear how easily they could be transposed into the much more appropriate language of primary and secondary form.
[line break added] Cyberneticians and mechanist neurologists, who stake their ambitions on the construction of ‘mechanical models of consciousness,’ have not taken account of the fact that before constructing a mechanical model of consciousness, they would have to have made, if such a thing is possible, a ‘mechanical model of the unconscious.’
My most recent previous post from Ruyer’s book is here.
-Julie
Coloring 