Date of Award
Spring 5-7-2011
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Dr. Jessica Berry
Second Advisor
Dr. Eddy Nahmias
Third Advisor
Dr. Sebastian Rand
Abstract
Many interpreters read Nietzsche as an epiphenomenalist. This means that, contrary to everyday “felt” experience, consciousness has no causal influence on our actions. In the first half of this paper I show that an epiphenomenalist interpretation proposed by Brian Leiter is unsupported by Nietzsche’s texts. Further, contemporary research does not conclusively support epiphenomenalism, as Leiter claims. In the second half of the paper I present the novel, causally efficacious view of consciousness that is supported by Nietzsche’s texts. This view of consciousness does not present consciousness as a self-caused faculty that is in some way separate from the rest of our mind and body, but rather views consciousness as a non-essential property of certain mental states. I trace the development of this idea through two key passages and show that, in the danger it presents as well as in the promise, consciousness is clearly causally efficacious.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/1955409
Recommended Citation
Wissmueller, Bradley, "Nietzsche's Causally Efficacious Account of Consciousness." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2011.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/1955409