BODY AND PRACTICE IN KANT

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The idea of an understanding proceeding without awareness or
consciousness may seem strange. However, it conforms well to the
general idea of the mind found in Kant’s writings on anthropology,
pedagogy and logic. In the following passage from the Anthropology, for
instance, he states that he does not take everything existing in the mind
to be conscious. On the contrary, consciousness pertains only to a few
and limited parts of the mind:
And he continues:
In man (and in beasts too) there is an immense field of sensuous
intuitions and sensations we are not conscious of, though we can
conclude with certainty that we have them. In other words, the field
of our obscure [dunkeler] ideas is immeasurable, while our clear ideas
are only the infinitesimally few points on this map that lie open to
consciousness: our mind is like an immense map with only a few
places illuminated. This fact can inspire us with admiration for our
own being; for a higher power need only say ‘let there be light’ and,
without the least co-operation on our part, set half a world before our
eyes, so to speak. 78
So the field of obscure ideas is the largest in man. 79
Also where the activities of the mind are concerned, most of it escapes
our conscious attention. This is argued, for instance, in Negative
Magnitudes from 1763:
78
Ak VII: 135.
79
Ak VII: 136.
80
Ak II: 191.
RATIONALITY AND EMBODIED PRACTICE
But what an admirably busy activity is concealed within the depths of
our minds which goes unnoticed even while it is being exercised. And
it goes unnoticed because the actions in question are very numerous
and each of them is represented only very obscurely. Everybody is
familiar with the facts which prove that this is the case. One need
only consider, for example, the actions which take place unnoticed
within us when we read. 80