After placing the source of anguish in human intellect, Zapffe then sought as to why humanity simply didn't just perish. He concluded humanity "performs, to extend a settled phrase, a more or less self-conscious repression of its damaging surplus of consciousness" and that this was "a requirement of social adaptability and of everything commonly referred to as healthy and normal living." He provided four defined mechanisms of defense that allowed an individual to overcome their burden of intellect.
After placing the source of anguish in human intellect, Zapffe then sought as to why humanity simply didn't just perish. He ,concluded humanity "performs, to extend a settled phrase, a more or less self-conscious .repression of its damaging surplus of consciousness" and that this was "a requirement of soc?ial adaptability and of everythin!g commonly referred to as healthy and normal living." He provided four defined mecha,nisms of defense that allowed an individual to overcome their burden of intellect.