Diotima: The Marist Undergraduate Philosophy Journal
From our analysis thus far, double consciousness consists of the following elements. First, it is a twoness in consciousness, one essentially Black, or African, and one American. Second, it is a striving for unity between these two consciousnesses. Third, it is a tool for self-realization and a means of measuring oneself that is not by a white American standard which is discriminatory and prejudiced. Now, we may move on to an analysis of the unconscious in Du Bois’ work—we will go over Souls and Darkwater but mainly focus on Dusk , where the most implications for double consciousness are to be found. The Unconscious: A Du Boisian Interpretation As mentioned, a large part of Du Bois’ theory of consciousness involves his identification of the unconscious as the locus of habits and forces of mind. In outlining how Du Bois conceives of this aspect of consciousness, I hope to create a clearer path for understanding his theory of double consciousness. In particular, we may come to view double consciousness as not just a social metaphor but as an experienced psychological condition. This latter interpretation of double consciousness is important to understanding Du Bois’ work—as we have seen in the language of Souls , this is how Du Bois views double consciousness. In Darkwater, Du Bois contends with white unconscious prejudice and begins to interpret racism as a system of beliefs that is ingrained by habit. These beliefs are resistant to change; there is no appeal to facts that may alter the minds of most people, and the unconscious is the greatest barrier to solving “the problem of the color line”: One cannot ignore the extraordinary fact that a world campaign beginning with the slave-trade and ending with the refusal to capitalize the word "Negro," leading through a passionate defense of slavery by attributing every bestiality to blacks and finally culminating in the evident modern profit which lies in degrading
Volume VII (2024) 25
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker