What is the unconscious?

Abstract

The unconscious may seem a simple concept. This paper draws on recent literature to argue that, not only is it deceptively complex, but it is also a concept undergoing constant transformation and contestation. The paper demonstrates this by exploring several dimensions that shape current understanding and use. They encompass the early philosophy and history of the unconscious in shaping ideas of the modern Western self, and how, more recently, the concept has been constantly reworked and contested as a computational model in social psychology and neuroscience. A further dimension outlines profound counter-discourses of the unconscious, articulated primarily through the indigenous, and through postcolonial and anthropological studies. A third aspect discusses what is counted as evidence of the unconscious and how this shapes its understanding. The paper draws on the literature of intergenerational transmission to illustrate how these dimensions overlap and how they both shape, and are shaped by the complex embodied experience of individual and collective unconscious processes.