The unconscious and the mysteries of human life
Vesa Talvitie
May 8, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9780429475030-1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that explanations for unusual human behaviors have shifted historically from "outward" to "inward" stories, with conditions like ADHD and Tourette's syndrome serving as contemporary labels. Notes that cognitivists and psychoanalysts disagree on the unconscious, viewing it as either "a neural thing" or a "mental" entity. |
Abstract
This chapter introduces briefly some ideas presented by Guy Claxton, the author of The Wayward Mind: An Intimate History of the Unconscious . It suggests that people&s;s explanations for the oddities have changed over time from the "outward" to the "inward" stories. Compulsive behaviour, epileptic seizure, ADHD, Tourette&s;s syndrome, psychosomatic disorder, and panic disorder are contemporary names or "labels" for certain oddities of human behaviour. Edwards, Jacobs and Claxton mention numerous phenomena that have been explained by referring to the man&s;s unconscious. Some of these are described under three headings, namely: bodily and motor reactions, altered states of consciousness, and stream of consciousness. Thus, cognitivists and psychoanalysts disagree on the essence of the unconscious: the former consider it "a neural thing", and the latter see it is a "mental" one—they presume that the mind contains an unconscious part.