Unconscious Thought in Freud

This chapter examines the role of unconscious thought in the formation of dream images, and in the distinction between the ego ( das Ich , the I), and the id ( das Es , the It). For Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), unconscious thought can be revealed through the analysis of the dream. The thought process in the dream is a Vorstellungsrepräsentanz , the eidos as a representation in phantasia , as in classical philosophy. Freud concluded that unconscious thought is necessary for conscious thought. In the concepts of the ego and the id, the psyche is divided into conscious and unconscious thought. The id as das Es (the It) in Freud’s original terms suggests an “other” to the “I” ( das Ich , the ego), as unconscious thought is other to conscious thought. Thus, for Jacques Lacan the unconscious would be “the Other.” There is a dynamic transformation of unconscious thoughts to conscious thoughts for Freud, through the word-presentation ( Wortvorstellung, logos endiathetos ), as in Plotinus and Hegel, and unconscious dream thoughts are transformed into dream images, the residues of which become the subject of conscious thought, through the imagination ( phantasia ). Unconscious thought is seen by Freud as the basis of the psyche. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.