On the Preconscious

Abstract

The distinction between the conscious and the unconscious mental state constitutes an ancient background of man’s intellectual history. The line of radical oversimplification finds its expression in the assumption that “communicable experience” corresponds with the reality of consciousness, and that the absence of such a disposition indicates the realm of the unconscious. This assessment is made with a flair of elegant Augustinian distinction as between good and evil: two extreme polarities, two incompatible universes, and yet only the one is assumed to be reality, the other merely an absence of it. A closer examination of the problem, however, reveals many intricacies which eventually prove to be of considerable importance. First, a host of questions emerges: Where is the clear demarcations line dividing these two basic systems? Under what conditions can the conscious process expand its activity over the unconscious, and explain it? What available evidence is there indicating which is the more powerful among them? How does one classify dreams, illusions, hypnotic states, hallucinations, or fantasies?