Conscious and Unconscious in a Phenomenological Key
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62506/phs.v6i33.325Keywords:
Phenomenology, Consciouness, Unconsciouness, Intencionality, Mental LifeAbstract
This article deals with the conscious and unconscious dimensions of mental life. I distinguish the transitive sense of consciousness, being conscious of something, intentionality, from the adjectival or adverbial sense, being conscious or consciously directed towards something. I show that an intentional act can be conscious or unconscious in the second sense and argue that, from this position, we can ask good questions about what consciousness is and its function in mental life. To achieve this result, I begin by framing the topic in the tradition of psychology before Husserl, namely Lipps, and Brentano, and then describe the unconscious dimension from the conceptual apparatus of phenomenology
References
Aristóteles (1982) – Metafísica de Aristóteles. Edición Trilingüe. Madrid: Editorial Gredos.
Armstrong, David (1997) – “What is Consciousness?” In N. Block, O. Flanagan, G. Gülzedere (eds.), The Nature of Consciousness. Philosophical Debates. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 721-728.
Brand, Gerd (1955) – Welt, Ich und Zeit. Nach unveröffentlichten Manuskripten Edmund Husserls. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff.
Brentano, Franz (1874) – Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkt. Leipzig: Verlag von Duncker & Humblot.
Coate, Matthew (2018) – “Time, or the Mediation of the Now: on Dan Zahavi’s ‘Irrelational’ Ac¬count of Self-Temporalization.” Continental Philosophy Review. V. 51, No. 4, pp. 565-591.
Fink, Eugen (1976) – “Beilage zum Problem des Unbewussten“. In Edmund Husserl, Die Krisis der europäischen Wissenschaften und die transzendentale Phänomenologie. Eine Einleitung in die phänomenologische Philosophie. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff.
Geiger, Moritz (1921) – „Fragment über den Begriff des Unbewussten und die psychische Reali¬tät. Ein Beitrag zur Grundlegung des immanenten psychischen Realismus“. Jahrbuch für Philosophie und phänomenologische Forschung 4, pp. 1-137.
Gurwitsch, Aron (1964) – Field of Consciousness. Duquesne: Duquesne University Press.
Gurwitsch, Aron (2010) – Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Rela¬tion Between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology. In The Collected Works of Aron Gur¬witsch (1901-1973). Vol. II: Studies in Phenomenology and Psychology. Dordrecht: Sprin¬ger (pp. 193-317).
Gyemant, Maria (2018) – « Lipps et Freud. Pour une psychologie dynamique de l’inconscient ». Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale. 1, Nº 97, pp. 27-48.
Holanda, Adriano (2010) – “Notas para uma reflexão sobre a consciência e o inconsciente”. Re¬vista de Abordagem Gestáltica. XVI (1): pp. 45-53.
Husserl, Edmund (1950) – Cartesianische Meditationen und Pariser Vorträge. Den Haag: Marti¬nus Nijhoff.
Husserl, Edmund (1976) – Ideen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Phi¬losophie. Zweites Buch. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff.
Husserl, Edmund (1986) – Analysen zur passiven Synthesis. Aus Vorlesungs- und Forschungsma¬nuskripten 1918-1926. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff.
Husserl, Edmund (1999). Erfahrung und Urteil: Untersuchungen zur Genealogie der Logik. Ham¬burg: Meiner, Verlag für Philosophie.
Husserl, Edmund (2002). Zur phänomenologischen Reduktion. Texte aus dem Nachlass (1926-1935). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Husserl, Edmund (2020). Studien zur Struktur des Bewusstseins. Teilbände I-IV. Cham. Springer.
Lipps. Theodor (1883). Grundtatsachen des Seelenlebens. Bonn: Verlag von Max Cohen & Sohn.
Lipps, Theodor (1896). „Der Begriff des Unbewussten in der Psychologie“. III. Internationaler Congress für Psychologie in München. München: Verlag von J. F. Lehmann, pp. 1-19.
Moran, Dermot (2017). “Husserl’s Layered Concept of the Human Person: Conscious and Un¬con¬scious.” In Dorothée Legrand and Dylan Trigg (eds), Unconsciousness Between Phe¬nomenology and Psychoanalysis. Cham: Springer Nature.
Sartre, Jean-Paul (2003). La transcendance de l’ego. Paris : Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin.
Stumpf, Carl (1939). Erkenntnislehre. Band I. Leipzig: Verlag vom Johann Ambrosius Barth.
Zahavi, Dan (2003). “Inner Time Consciousness and Pre-Reflective Self-Awareness.” In The New Husserl. A Critical Reader, Don Welton (ed.), Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 157-180.
Zahavi, Dan (2010). “Inner (Time-)Consciousness.” In D. Lohmar & I. Yamaguchi (eds.), On Time – New Contributions to the Husserlian Phenomenology of Time. Cham: Springer, pp. 319-339.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Phenomenology, Humanities and Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
