my argument of the last post was that all we really get from Spinoza in relation to the
nature of mind is its assertion
back tracking it to God appears to give it some flesh - but it is a back tracking to the
unknown
the mind is idea - and Spinoza has precious little really to say about this
we know the object of the mind is the body
the mind is its idea -
and even though we have this tight fit of mind and body - there is from Spinoza no
sense of the internality of mind
in fact you could very well ask of Spinoza - where is it?
his answer is going to be that it is substance viewed under the attribute of thought
and his idea here is that substance or its modifications is just what is
and we can regard it as either thought or extension
in fact there is technically no difference - it is just a matter of how you read what is
before you
as to substance - independent of these attributes - substance in itself is infinite
this idea of substance I have argued in fact cannot be conceived - it is not a conception
- for a conception has form - infinity does not
so what we are actually talking about here is the unknown
Spinoza calls it God
mind though is an attribute of this God
that is it is a perceived essence
that is to say it is a conceived essence
so mind logically speaking pre-dates substance
for without mind there is no such conception
and this conception is interesting - it is supposed to go beyond - outside of the
conceiving mind - and yet include the conceiving mind
so the argument we have is that the mind in conceiving substance conceives itself -
and everything that it is not
this conception of itself is what?
the mind's identification of itself as an essence of substance
so at the very start mind conceives mind
that is for Spinoza self-consciousness is not a discovery
for mind to identify itself as an essence of substance
it must already have identified itself -
as - mind - what it is
OK -
so what does this amount to?
the idea that the beginning of any awareness is the awareness of self
- is self-consciousness -
the mind is aware of itself
when we think of awareness of that which is outside of mind - we think of a relation
of mind to object - or in Spinoza's terms idea to object
this occurs because the object of awareness is outside of mind
but what of the case when the object is inside - is mind
can we distinguish awareness and awareness of awareness?
can you be aware and not aware that you are aware?
I don't mean in practice - as in being absent minded - but I mean in principle?
I think not
it strikes me that the nature of awareness - of human awareness is that it - for want of
a better phrase - holds itself as object
this is to say there is no difference between awareness and self awareness
human consciousness is the awareness of awareness
so the mind is that which holds itself as subject and object
and the collapse of subject and object into a unity - just is awareness
and perhaps this awareness is not awareness of
it is just awareness
when we introduce object we are talking about something other than mind
so subjectivity is awareness without an object
Spinoza made this point
and thus it can only be awareness of the subject
perhaps the term to use is 'reflective' -
awareness is just reflecting on -
be it that which is internal - or that which is not - that which is external
in this case the object of awareness has no particular ontological status
it is just 'that'
and reflection can turn inward - or outward -
if it turns inward it is just the focus or the knowledge of awareness
of the fact of awareness
if outward it - it is the focus on the non-aware - that which it isn't
so awareness is the kind of thing that turns in on itself
we need a kind of meta-geometry here
it is a form - the internal is a form that can explore itself
and this distinguishes it from the external - the external is linear - it has no reflective
dimension
perhaps we can just say the mind conceives - and to conceive it must have a
conception of itself -
otherwise it has no concept of that which it is not - which is the primary object of
conception
and in that case it could not conceive
so on this view self-consciousness is a logically necessary condition for knowledge
if you have knowledge - you have self-consciousness
