The unconscious in Nietzsche

This dissertation discussed Friedrich Nietzsche's understanding of the unconscious in conjunction with his criticism of the primacy of consciousness and his theory of secondary consciousness. Over the course of the history of thought, spirit, reason, mind, and consciousness have been considered the essence of human beings. The belief in dominance of consciousness in human has been subjected to extensive and harsh criticism by Nietzsche on various occasions. He particularly holds beliefs in substance and subject responsible for this erroneous idea. According to him, the belief in substance and subject are illusions. The role of language's subject-predicate structure is significant in these beliefs. However, Nietzsche argues through a genealogical approach that the primordial sources of belief in substance and subject trace back to the very early history of life. The pleasure-pain sensations of the organism, namely its sensing of its environment through a pleasure-pain relation has become "the initial law of knowing subjects." Unconscious processes operating through instincts, drives, and affects are the true causes behind our conscious thoughts and actions. Instincts, drives, and affects fundamentally derive from a conflict between forces based on will to power. Consciousness serves only as a witness to these processes; it is merely the surface of the unconscious processes. Consciousness, indeed, developed "hand-in-hand" with language due to socialization and communication needs much later. Therefore, consciousness is constrained by the structural limits of language. It consists of generalizations and distortions of unconscious processes coming to the surface through drives and affects. It is an interpretation itself. However, interpretation is essentially present within all unconscious processes as well. Drives view the world as opportunities of discharge. Cause our actions fundamentally aim at discharging our drives arising from our instincts; this occurs via feelings and affects. In human beings, the unconscious and consciousness work together at every moment; yet the primary one is the unconscious.