Consciousness and the Unconscious
Mark Solms, Oliver Hugh Turnbull
Routledge eBooks April 24, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9780429481239-3 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 7 |
| Key points | Argues that most mental life is unconscious and that consciousness is a minor, embodied phenomenon consisting of feelings projected onto one's surroundings. Cites blindsight to show that not all cortical visual processing is conscious, and proposes that the core 'self' is a perception of the 'id' while the autobiographical 'self' corresponds to the mainly unconscious 'ego.' |
Abstract
Sigmund Freud was one of the first to claim that most of our mental life operates unconsciously and that consciousness is merely a property of one part of the mind. Many cognitive scientists argue that consciousness is of very little importance in mental life and that the vast bulk of our mental operations are performed without consciousness. Consciousness thus consists of feelings projected onto what is happening around us. Consciousness has everything to do with being embodied, with awareness of one’s bodily state in relation to what is going on around one. “Consciousness” in this context refers to the global state of being awake, aware, and alert. Patients with blindsight can “see” unconsciously precisely because not all cortical visual processing is conscious. In psychoanalytic terms, the core “self’ might be described as a perception of the current state of the “id,” whereas the extended, autobiographical “self” is synonymous with the “ego.” The ego was mainly unconscious.