Explicit and Implicit
The reason that it is harder to detect the double-helix than the spiral is that at any given time one of the strands of the double-helix is implicit, and therefore “hidden” from consciousness. The relationship between explicit and implicit has many equivalents such as conscious/sub-conscious and known/unknown. Perceptually we differentiate foreground and background, or focus and context. [For more on this, see my article You Are Two and We Are One linked here.]
In National Geographics Your Brain: A User’s Guide (2015), a visual metaphor is used to describe the relationship between consciousness and subconsciousness: “In a typical day, every person goes through two obvious states, waking and sleeping, but each of these has sublevels of awareness based upon controlled and automatic mental processes. In a conscious state, the brain turns its attention to one thing after another, like a spotlight swinging through a dark night. The unconscious mind brings in information at the edge of the light, and sometimes even in the darkness.” (pg. 78) [The “spotlight” metaphor is from William James; I prefer the “chopstick” metaphor of stereo vision that Lawrence Weschler uses to depict how we “pick out” a focus (“Double Vision” in Uncanny Valley, 2011).]
Some theorists believe that we can never really know anything because the act of knowing itself changes the thing known. But that only begs the question: how can we know anything except by changing it? We change water by splashing it, drinking it, freezing it to make ice or boiling it to make steam. As a result of these ways of changing water, we know more about water. Specifically, by changing water in these ways, we get to know different aspects of water (that it is splashable, drinkable, freezable, boilable).
A general conclusion from this discussion is that different ways of knowing reveal different aspects of reality. The question then is what are these different ways of knowing and how do they emerge in development?
A general conclusion from this discussion is that different ways of knowing reveal different aspects of reality. The question then is what are these different ways of knowing and how do they emerge in development?
Color coding for lines and shapes of model.
Model reads from bottom to top.
The model, as depicted, show a “side view” (or profile) with consciousness on the right and sub-consciousness on the left. For a depiction of the model from the “front view”, click here.