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The Concept of the Unconscious: Some Analytic Preliminaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Abraham Edel
Abraham Edel*
Affiliation:
The City College of the City University of New York and State University of New York Downstate Medical Center
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Abstract

To illustrate one way in which philosophy may be helpful rather than merely critical in the present state of psychoanalytic theorizing, an attempt is made to disentangle issues in controversies about the unconscious. Eleven questions are distinguished and discussed. Logical, linguistic, methodological, metaphysical, empirical, and pragmatic components are set apart. It is found that there are no logical barriers to a construct of the unconscious, that it is linguistically feasible, need violate no methodological concepts, nor foreclose a metaphysical issue, nor have deleterious pragmatic effect. Feasibility and desirability of the construct in all these respects will depend on the character and extent of the scientific findings. Some issues are also raised concerning desirable types of models in the explanation of conduct, and concerning the relevance of recent studies of consciousness.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , January 1964 , pp. 18 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © 1964 The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

∗∗

From a paper originally presented at the departmental scientific meeting of the Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, on February 28, 1962.

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