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ON UNCONSCIOUS
Dante Roberto Salatino
Summary
When in 1912, Freud unveiled for the first time his hypothesis about the
existence of unconscious mental processes, substantially modified the outlook
from where, from there, we would study the human psyche.
This finding led to the proposal of the structural division of the psyche
(Ego, Id and Superego), while allowing you to set the hallmarks of every psychic
process from the beginning, so also was crucial to understand, that there, will
remained indelible, the memories of childhood, including the prenatal
memories, that although in adulthood, apparently were forgotten, they were
responsible for the conduct and manifested by particular behaviors. In this
paper we will review the specifics of the unconscious, but also we will see their
relationships with thought, ideas, preconscious and consciousness.
Finally, we will address the important relationships between the Id and
the Unconscious, since at that early part of the psyche, lies, according to my
theory, the psychic structure and the main subjective transformations, allowing
that impulses and desires are expressed.
Since that an instinct expresses the vital commitment that man has with
the libido, we shall see, in some detail, how and where the libido originates.
Key words: Unconscious, preconscious, consciousness, thought, ideas, libido.
Antecedents
This concept, key in the work of Freud, has been subjected to all sorts of
vilification. We will board, by way of introduction, some antecedents, most in the
hands of philosophers who try to define the unconscious, but remained only in
that, in a definition, in a purely descriptive sense. This is because the emphasis
is in an empty term, in general, as well as is pointed out by Freud (1986, p.
354), is taken as such, as the antithesis of the Consciousness, that is, as one of
its states. For Freud, as for Transcursive Logic (TL), the Unconscious is
inescapable part of subjective reality.
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling (Watson, 1882, p 191): Since the
beginning of the 1800s, the Transcendental Idealism comes as criticism of the
theories of Fichte and Kant; and it is shown as a subjective picture emerging
from the opposition, explicit and implicit, between subject and object (similar to
that proposed by the TL), but succumbs to the evidence of Kantian logic.
However it leaves us some guidance on the Unconscious, establishing that
objectify is to make conscious what is not taken into the Consciousness; that is,
incorporated into the subjectivity that can be established objectively, thereby
accepting that the unconscious is something real that maintains a constant
relationship with the Ego. The passage from the unconscious to the conscious
is established as a free act that belongs to the domain of intuition.
Carl Gustav Carus (Montiel, 1997, pp 213-237): The approach of the
Unconscious that made this painter, psychologist, naturalist and German
mycologist, stands out for having done, not only from the psychological, but
also, from the Biology, considering it as a fundamental element of rational
thought (Psyche, 1846). His concept of the unconscious, ultimately has more to
do with the collective unconscious of Jung, on which has a remarkable impact,
which with Freud.
Eduard von Hartmann (Philosophy of the Unconscious, 1869 [1884]):
The work of this German philosopher is the most influential in the Freud's theory
of the unconscious1. According to him, the Unconscious has three
developmental stages: 1) the absolute Unconscious, constituted by the
substance of the universe and is the source of other forms of unconscious; 2)
the physiological Unconscious similar to that of Carus; fundamental in the
origin, development and evolution of living beings, including humans; and 3) the
relative or psychological Unconscious, which lies in the basis of our conscious
mental life. However, the promising evolution previous of the Hartmann's
Freud consulted the Philosophy of the Unconscious of Hartmann while writing "The Interpretation of
Dreams". (Volume IV AE, p. 153) (Author's note).
I do not think that fit any doubt of the parallelism; however, and accepting
the principles of the TL that was discussed in a previous job (Salatino, 2013a) to
describe the structure and psychic function, there is scope for originality in favor
of Freud, who in this way, not only is not a 'follower' of something that began
Schopenhauer, but a true creator of the first scientific theory of the psyche. One
detail that sum for Freud, appears in an essay that Schopenhauer wrote in 1851
about his theory of sleep and sleepwalking, where the Unconscious clearly is
confused with a simple state of Consciousness, by stating that in this
physiological state in the brain, and hence the psyche, is in 'complete rest'. On
the other hand, the philosopher explores, exclusively, the volitional to
characterize the Unconscious; something that, effectively, is, but not treated,
specifically, as psycho-cognitive; whereas both Freud and the TL do. The
Unconscious, as discussed below, has undeniable volitional aspects, but also,
and very important, are the pure psychical aspects that give basis to
subjectivity.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of
Music, 1872 [2003]): From his personal view, Nietzsche shows the blatant
dichotomy of our psyche, projecting from the analysis of the origin of tragedy in
A 'species' could be described as a harmonious and simultaneous cadence of differences and similarities
that evolves over time with a particular pattern of repetition. The psychic species is the suitable substrate
to express circumstances, feelings, ideas or thoughts, although it is not a stimulus to affect perception,
Not only not exist contradiction, but that not exist the doubt nor
denial.
Not exist denial: the psyche, face to unresolved conflicts, that is, in the
simultaneous presence of opposites, as in the early stages of its evolution,
rather than get rid of any of them, only chance in the apparent reality of the
monocontexture - which would amount to a classical denial -, uses a different
approach: the conservative displacement; that is, it negates the member in
conflict in the monocontexture where it is incompatible, and housed him in
another contexture, where everything that happens in the monocontexture from
which he was evicted, has no influence.
Technically, for the TL, the conservative movement is a transclassic
denial or mediated, or Aufheben3 in Hegel (1985, p.163), or repression in Freud.
The previous conservative displacement is not only because that
conflicting element is not lost, but because it continues to have simultaneous
impact on their monocontexture (the unconscious) and in the abandoned
but a perceptual achievement which has a range of features including: a) a subject with identity itself that
is responsible of inflicting changes or transformations, to grant existence to something; b) an object, that
on receipt of a change or transformation, brand contrasts; c) a evident change that establishes differences
among the above, and the simultaneous concordance between them; d) a profound change (hidden),
which does not correspond with the objective, but with the subject, to which, for a number of similarities
with the superficial, gives it individuality, assigning it all its subjective burden. (Authors note)
3
German term which mean suppress, but also and at the same time, conserve. (Authors note)
Its processes are timeless: they are motions that cant be historically
linked with chronological time; that is, they haven't a before nor after; something
that we see in the case of dreams, where his temporality only appears during
secondary elaboration of their narrative. In the Unconscious the past, the
present and the future are made simultaneously, by collapse of psychic
structure (Salatino, 2013b, p. 128)
Constitution of Id
In this respect Freud in "Moses and Monotheism" (1939 [1934-1938], p
90) points out:
I think that the coincidence between the individual and the mass is almost perfect
in this point: even in the masses is preserved the impression {mark} of the past in
some unconscious memory traces.
adult has forgotten. Another example of archaic heritage which provides is the
Oedipus complex, something we see in detail in another work.
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"Aspirations of conflicting goals exist side by side in the Unconscious unturned to
compensate any need [...]. With this relates that opposites are not separated, but
that are treated as identical, so that [...] each element can also mean its opposite."
(loc. cit.)
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12
The unconscious is a functional aspect of the cerebral cortex that cannot be accessed by consciousness,
and in that sense, is not opposed to wakefulness. (Author note)
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Instinct is a purely Freudian concept that expresses the vital commitment that man has with the libido,
that is, with that deep, innate transformation that cant be evidenced otherwise than by its distinctive
manifestations, those that determine the proceeding before the different apparent transformations to
which is submitted to the psychic apparatus. It should be clarified that the English term 'instinct' does not
accurately reflect the Freudian concept ('pulsin' in Spanish, 'Trieb' in German). (Author's Note)
13
The 'to think' on the one hand, represents the confluence of a number of
psychical processes supported in a dynamic structure, and that make possible
the enablement of operative processes, such as speaking, for example, that
allow understand what learned (apprehended) by perception, this is what we
know here as 'volitional thought'. On the other hand, the 'to think' allows
elaborate through of the theoretical thought, the fulfillment or not of a desire to
be transformed into 'our truth' that is, to give rise to a belief, which is the
'currency of change' in that particular 'business' that hold each other, the inner
world and the outer world. To this 'think' we will call cognitive thought.
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As seen in Figure 2 the thoughts in general are divided, on the one hand,
the primary or basic of deep character, as it only recognizes them for their
unmistakable manifestations, namely, the affections awakened by an
experience or a particular specific action; or in short, the expression of a
superior elaboration. These thoughts are: the explorer, the practical, and the
theoretical or abstract. On the other hand, are the secondary or correctors
thoughts, which are self-evident, but not by its manifestations, and include the
judicative thought, critical thought and pure thought.
As we have seen in a previous work (Salatino, 2013a) the state of
consciousness is not a continuous and permanent phenomenon while we are
awake, but rather, it is an intermittency between states of consciousness and
unconsciousness of identical duration (12.5 msec) which alternate. All I will
describe below and that has to do with the construction of the psychic structure
occurs during states of unconsciousness, that is, for what we know as a
temporal wedge. Intermittent states of consciousness which are addressed in
the 'now ' ( in Figure 2), are used primarily for two things, first, to pay attention
(biological, psychical or social); and secondly, to operating the specific action or
response to the perceived. This tells us that in fact, most psychic activity is
unconscious and we make use of consciousness, that is, intentionally directing
attention of some sort to a particular fact, only when arise problems that prevent
realization automatically of a specific action, whether that has to do some
adjustment to what has been learned or learn something new.
In Figure 2, the temporal wedge is represented by the 'trefoil', this elapse
of the internal time (in the opposite direction to clockwise) that administers, as it
were, independent of present achieving the different identities that will give
origin to the psychic structure. While the chronological time or the time of the
external world, represented by the 'now' running in an eternal present,
perpendicular to the former.
The state of waking consciousness operates the external perceptual
apparatus which allows to the 'explorer thought' to start search of the object with
most likely to satisfy the desire promoted by the imperative to survive.
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The act of perception can be divided into two distinct processes that take
place simultaneously. On the one hand, who is responsible for 'capture' from
the reality outside the psyche, quantitative, that is, generating stimuli that
traveling on the particular routes of each of the organs of sense towards the
cerebral cortex where impact in a dispersed manner and that in the hypothesis
of Llins (Llins et al., 1994, p. 261) constitutes the content or that, somehow,
represents the 'spatial' of perceived. On the other hand, is the process 'it
captures' the qualitative or that which is not apparent and has a temporal
dimension, which Llins calls context, which traveling by, perhaps, the reticular
substance and reaches thalamus nonspecific nuclei6. The thalamocortical
system and practical thinking, as discussed below, give to the perceptive act the
uniqueness needed to establish the existential reality of the perceived.
Practical thought enables process the perceived and it does this by
configuration two different memories, one structural and other operative. These
memories do not have the features that are commonly assigned to the memory
in general as it established in a previous work (Salatino, 2013b), that is, the
ability to retain 'images', representatives of perceived, something that has never
been proven to exist, but they only 'retains' are relationships. These
relationships, when they repeated on perceived reality end up configuring true
patterns for which the psychic apparatus allocates a number of resources that
allow you to perform actions that represent 'specific actions', developed as a
response to what we perceive.
The relationships mentioned are registered somehow, given the change
in synaptic strength between the neurons caused by impact of perceptual
complex, thus giving a kind of learning. This learning is done in two ways, on
the one hand, we might call structural, charge of the quantitative and given
affinity or immediate relationship between perceived elements of reality; and on
the other hand, would be temporal learning or those responsible for the
qualitative, which depends on previous inputs and responses. As a result of
successive perceptions (learning) is being created in the reticular neuronal
This certifies that observed in patients with lesions in the nonspecific thalamic nuclei (hemineglect
syndrome), where neglects half its body. For example, when looking in a mirror, only attend to
contralateral side to brain injury; the other half of the body ignore it, do not see it reflected. From the
point of view of consciousness, it's as if that part of the body did not exist. (Llins, 2003, p. 147)
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frame, a series of 'facilitated paths' by where are running the various stimuli
coming from the outside, and so, be form different relational patterns that can
then be 'remembered'. This mechanism was proposed by Donald Hebb in 1949
(2002, p. 62) but that Freud accurately predicted 54 years ago (Salatino, 2013a,
p. 48).
If the pattern perceived coincides entirely with something already learned
and known (experienced), the practical thought launches to the action, that is,
transform the 'facilitated path' in a PAF (Fixed Action Pattern) which is the motor
response to the perceived. When these responses are repeated over time give
rise to habits or those motor routines that we performed automatically without
full participation of consciousness (walking, talking, etc.)
If perceived pattern not fully matches with one pattern already known, it
starts up one of the correctors of thoughts, depending on where is the disparity.
When you cant establish the identity of the object, the judicative thought is
activated through biological attention that modifies the practical thought
according to the given by the explorer thought (see Figure 2).
When you cant establish the identity of the subject, therefore, is the
critical thought who through psychic attention, modifies the theoretical thought
in terms of practical thought. Finally, when you cant identify the transformation
that connects subject and object, pure thought, by social attention, modifies the
explorer thought depending on how the theoretical thought must adapt to the
circumstances; a paradigmatic example of this is the discourse adequacy to the
communicative situation.
With the above modifications what is sought is to establish how true it is
a given fact. So, trying to establish the biological truth, which is based on the
satisfaction of a desire, or psychic truth that lies in the sense that has one fact,
which gives you the opportunity to comprehend, or the social truth that which is
commonly known as 'truth' and allowing us to be credible to others, and build
our own beliefs by conviction or certainty, that is, be scientists.
Something quite different happens when the perceived pattern does not
match at all with something learned and known, that is, something we
experienced.
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19
This whole process begins with an urgent need of survive which then, at
the behest of libido, is converted to desire. On the way to achieving the
satisfaction of that desire it is and he leaves by structuring the psyche.
The libidinal promotes or predicts what needs to be done to meet the
need, that is, it gives prominence to the instinct of self-preservation, thus
becoming, in the first manifestation of subjectivity.
Desire and need, from now on, they remain linked by a complex
relationship, that is, are opposed, to be produced, the first by the 'memory' of a
vital experience of satisfaction or pleasurable, and the second by a
dissatisfaction. They are complementary, since the first provides the voluntary
impulse, not inherited, which promotes to live, while the second represents the
instinct or involuntary impulse and inherited to preserve life; and finally, they are
concurrent or simultaneous.
Freud stresses the importance for understanding the origin of
subjectivity, of the place of the libidinal (as an expression of the sexual instinct),
beyond the strictly biological. (Ibid., p. 110)
20
The dialectic, in this case, is taken from concept that Hegel (1808) has of reality, which sees it as
consisting of opposites, of the conflict that arises, new concepts that are always opposed to something
are generated. But also, the dialectic, here has to do with the point of view of Heraclitus, who endowed
this concept not only with simultaneously negativity, but of a dynamic, with its famous expression: panta
rei ( = everything flows). (Author note)
21
not 'represents' things, but functions. In other words, the representations are
equivalent to projections (transformations) of a structure over another structure.
22
Conclusion
As we have seen throughout this work it is in the Unconscious where lies
the core of the psychic structure, and that's precisely where it exerts its action
the main mobilizing force of libido (that change, which remained unchanged,
that is the beginning and end of the other changes).
This core is indelible and is jealously protected, and who fully justifies the
creation of Psychoanalysis, as the only tool available to make evident the
alterations or dysfunction of this structure, through a process of relational
reconstruction, in conjunction with the analyzed, which allows to 'see' what or
what are the altered relationships, and allow him as a subject, to complete in
more accurate way the basic relationships that structured the psyche in his
childhood, and be able to understand current events; that is, making the
unconscious conscious.
We also saw that much of the psychic functioning has its origin in the
Unconscious, one more reason which justifies the intervention of the analyst,
but at the same time, a serious warning, that his intervention not exceed the
limits, clearly established by the patient's psyche, because will end up being a
real intrusion that it transfers another element to conflict.
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With the above we want to point, and this is important, that although the
Unconscious is, in theory, structurally indestructible through external action
once formed, their noble products (result of its functioning), them can be
severely damaged; enough to make it happen, just not taken into account, that
thinking, feeling, intuit, to act or to behave, according to a biological,
psychological or social situation, are rooted in the Unconscious. Without his
help there is no possibility of channeling the libido, nor, to sustain subtle stable
imbalance that keep each other, the life instinct with the death instinct, of which
depend since self-esteem to the relationship between desire and the need of
which depend the biological, psychological and social need of stay alive.
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