For everything begins with consciousness and nothing is worth anything except through it…We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking. Begin to think is beginning to be undermined. This quote is from: (a) Camus; (b) Socrates; (c) Aristotle.

Question

For everything begins with consciousness and nothing is worth anything except through it…We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking. Begin to think is beginning to be undermined.  This quote is from: (a) Camus; (b) Socrates; (c) Aristotle.

Ask a Philosopher · Accepted Answer

For everything begins with consciousness and nothing is worth anything except through it. Our thoughts, our perceptions, our understandings of the world around us all stem from our consciousness. Without consciousness, we would not be able to reason, to interpret, to make sense of the world. It is the very essence of our being, the foundation upon which all else is built. And yet, we often take it for granted, assuming that it will always be there, always functioning as it should. But as Camus so astutely observes, we get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking. We go about our daily lives without truly engaging with the world, without questioning, without reflecting. We become creatures of habit, creatures of routine, creatures of instinct. And in doing so, we lose sight of the very thing that distinguishes us as human beings - our capacity for thought. To begin to think is to begin to truly live, for it is through thought that we are able to explore and understand the world around us. To neglect this capacity, to ignore this gift, is to allow ourselves to be consumed by the mundane, the trivial, the banal. It is to surrender our humanity, our essence, our very existence. And so, as Aristotle would undoubtedly agree, we must prioritize the cultivation of our consciousness, the nurturing of our capacity for thought. For it is through this that we are able to truly live, to truly experience, to truly be.