"..you can find, I think, at the same time in Pascal and Leibniz, something which is much closer to what you are looking for: in other words in Pascal and in the whole Augustinian stream of Christian thought, you find this idea of a mind in profundity; of a mind folded back in the intimacy of itself which is touched by a sort of unconsciousness, and which can develop its potentialities by the deepening of the self. And that is why the grammar of Port Royal, to which you refer, is, I think, much more Augustinian than Cartesian.
And furthermore you will find in Leibniz something which you will certainly like: the idea that in the profundity of the mind is incorporated a whole web of logical relations which constitutes, in a certain sense, the rational unconscious of the consciousness, the not yet clarified and visible form of the reason itself, which the monad or the individual develops little by little, and with which he understands the whole world."
Human Nature: Justice versus Power. Debate between Foucault and Chomsky held on Dutch TV in 1971.
I have not reproduced this passage here in the service of defining this concept of 'the positive unconscious', but of signalling an inroad which the discussion held between Chomsky and Foucault (around human nature and 'creative freedom') makes in this direction - a kind of light emerges by their contrasting perspectives.
--- On Fri, 14/11/08, Kevin Turner <kevin.turner@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: Kevin Turner <kevin.turner@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Foucault-L] positive unconscious of knowledge
> To: "Mailing-list" <foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Received: Friday, 14 November, 2008, 7:33 PM
> when Foucault refers to 'a positive unconscious of
> knowledge' in The Order of Things (xi), is he referring
> to savoir or connaissance?
>
> my guess is that due to the context of the statement, he is
> referring to connaissance:
> i.e. savoir being the positive unconscious of connaissance:
>
> i.e. savoir being 'that level that eludes the
> consciousness of the scientist and yet is part of scientific
> discourse' (ibid).
>
> regards,
> Kevin.
>
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And furthermore you will find in Leibniz something which you will certainly like: the idea that in the profundity of the mind is incorporated a whole web of logical relations which constitutes, in a certain sense, the rational unconscious of the consciousness, the not yet clarified and visible form of the reason itself, which the monad or the individual develops little by little, and with which he understands the whole world."
Human Nature: Justice versus Power. Debate between Foucault and Chomsky held on Dutch TV in 1971.
I have not reproduced this passage here in the service of defining this concept of 'the positive unconscious', but of signalling an inroad which the discussion held between Chomsky and Foucault (around human nature and 'creative freedom') makes in this direction - a kind of light emerges by their contrasting perspectives.
--- On Fri, 14/11/08, Kevin Turner <kevin.turner@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: Kevin Turner <kevin.turner@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Foucault-L] positive unconscious of knowledge
> To: "Mailing-list" <foucault-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Received: Friday, 14 November, 2008, 7:33 PM
> when Foucault refers to 'a positive unconscious of
> knowledge' in The Order of Things (xi), is he referring
> to savoir or connaissance?
>
> my guess is that due to the context of the statement, he is
> referring to connaissance:
> i.e. savoir being the positive unconscious of connaissance:
>
> i.e. savoir being 'that level that eludes the
> consciousness of the scientist and yet is part of scientific
> discourse' (ibid).
>
> regards,
> Kevin.
>
> ____________________________________________________________
> GET FREE 5GB EMAIL - Check out spam free email with many
> cool features!
> Visit http://www.inbox.com/email to find out more!
>
> _______________________________________________
> Foucault-L mailing list
Make the switch to the world's best email. Get Yahoo!7 Mail! http://au.yahoo.com/y7mail