Das Unbewusste

by Sigmund Freud

Das Unbewusste nimmt eine zentrale Stellung in Freuds Lehre ein. Der Aufsatz über dieses Thema war nach Freuds eigener Aussage seine »liebste« Abhandlung. In ihr begründet Freud seine Annahme einer unbewussten Seelentätigkeit, die sich besonders in Phänomenen wie Symptomhandlungen, Fehlleistungen oder Träumen zeigt. Bis heute gilt diese unbewusste Tätigkeit als das spezifische Merkmal der Psychoanalyse.

E-Book mit Seitenzählung der gedruckten Ausgabe: Buch und E-Book können parallel benutzt werden.

Genres: Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Classics, Science, 20th Century

76 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1915

About the author

Dr. Sigismund Freud (later changed to Sigmund) was a neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, who created an entirely new approach to the understanding of the human personality. He is regarded as one of the most influential—and controversial—minds of the 20th century.

In 1873, Freud began to study medicine at the University of Vienna. After graduating, he worked at the Vienna General Hospital. He collaborated with Josef Breuer in treating hysteria by the recall of painful experiences under hypnosis. In 1885, Freud went to Paris as a student of the neurologist Jean Charcot. On his return to Vienna the following year, Freud set up in private practice, specialising in nervous and brain disorders. The same year he married Martha Bernays, with whom he had six children.

Freud developed the theory that humans have an unconscious in which sexual and aggressive impulses are in perpetual conflict for supremacy with the defences against them. In 1897, he began an intensive analysis of himself. In 1900, his major work 'The Interpretation of Dreams' was published in which Freud analysed dreams in terms of unconscious desires and experiences.

In 1902, Freud was appointed Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Vienna, a post he held until 1938. Although the medical establishment disagreed with many of his theories, a group of pupils and followers began to gather around Freud. In 1910, the International Psychoanalytic Association was founded with Carl Jung, a close associate of Freud's, as the president. Jung later broke with Freud and developed his own theories.

After World War One, Freud spent less time in clinical observation and concentrated on the application of his theories to history, art, literature and anthropology. In 1923, he published 'The Ego and the Id', which suggested a new structural model of the mind, divided into the 'id, the 'ego' and the 'superego'.

In 1933, the Nazis publicly burnt a number of Freud's books. In 1938, shortly after the Nazis annexed Austria, Freud left Vienna for London with his wife and daughter Anna.

Freud had been diagnosed with cancer of the jaw in 1923, and underwent more than 30 operations. He died of cancer on 23 September 1939.

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The English version can be found below.

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German version:

Ich finde diesen Aufsatz bezüglich der logischen Struktur des Argumentierens besser als 'Das Unheimliche', allerdings ist der Inhalt auch deutlich komplizierter. Die Abschnitte zu Ubw und Bw/Vbw hätte man deutlicher trennen können und nicht alle Möglichkeiten vermischen, dann wäre der komplizierte Sachverhalt verständlicher. Dafür dass Freud das Unbewusste nicht erfunden hat und seine Quellen kaum gekennzeichnet hat, hätte er zumindest mehr Klarheit schaffen können und die Inhalte besser strukturieren. Den neue Anteil mit den Verdrängungs-Prozessen finde ich aber wirklich spannend – wenn auch etwas umständlich formuliert.

Das Nachwort von Bayer und Lohmann hat mir wirklich geholfen, das Ganze besser zu verstehen. Es übernimmt die Arbeit, die Freud eigentlich leisten hätte sollen, indem es besser gliedert. Zusätzlich wird durch eine erneute Wiederholung der wesentlichsten Inhalte Vieles ‚bewusster‘.😅

Gesamt: 3,4🌟

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English version:

I find this essay better than ‚The uncanny‘ in terms of the logical structure of the argumentation, but the content is also much more complicated. The sections on Ubw and Bw/Vbw could have been separated more clearly and not mixed up all the possibilities. Then the complicated subject matter would be easier to understand. Given that Freud did not invent The Unconscious and hardly labelled his sources, he could at least have created more clarity and structured the content better. However, I find the new part with the repression processes really exciting - even if it is formulated somewhat awkwardly.

The epilogue by Bayer and Lohmann really helped me to understand the whole thing better. It does the work that Freud should have done by organising it better. In addition, the repetition of the most important content makes many things more ‚conscious’. 😅

Total: 3.4🌟

[شمس · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Freud not in the mode of persuading for teaching or warning. This is a workplace, and the bluntness of the points made are in the service of his own self-clarification rather than an attempt to cajole the reader into acceptance. —Mark Cousins, Introduction
__________
The manner in which our patients present their associations during analytical work gives us occasion for some interesting observations. ‘Now you’ll think I want to insult you, but I really don’t mean to.’ This, we realize, is a thought being rejected as it emerges, by means of projection. Or: ‘You’ll ask who this person in my dream can be. It’s not my mother.’ This we amend: ‘So it is your mother.’ In our interpretation we take the liberty of disregarding the negation and seizing on the pure content of the thought. It is as if the patient had said: ‘My first thought was it’s my mother, but I have no desire to admit this.’. —Negation

__________
This short volume collects the following works by Freud:
• Formulations on the Two Principles of Psychic Functioning
• Drives and Their Fates
• Repression
• The Unconscious
• Negation
• Fetishism
• The Splitting of the Ego in Defence Processes
__________
As Mark Cousins points out in the introduction, the shorter works collected here serve as substantial notes and ideas which are likely elaborated in Freud’s other works.

A few interesting points, nonetheless.

[Nadia · Rating 2 out of 5]

My goodness, this must have been one of the most tedious readings of my life.

“The Unconscious” is a theoretical collection of Freud’s definitions on...well the unconscious. If you expect to gain any practical knowledge around our inner minds, you’d need to search elsewhere.

Ironically, when I was about to give up on this book, Freud managed to amuse me with his final chapter on fetishism, where he explained that fetish is universally created when boys realise that their mothers are missing a penis🤷🏼‍♀️

Enough said.

”...I am prepared to anticipate the same general solution for all cases of fetishism - fetish is a penis substitute. Not just for any penis, but for a specific and very special one, one which is of great significance in early infancy.
To put it more plainly, a fetish is a substitute for the woman’s (mother’s) phallus, which the little boy once believed on and which - for reasons well known to us - he does not want to give up.”

“...the repression that has taken place leaves behind a further stigma in the form of an aversion towards real female genitals, common to all fetishists.
Admittedly, we cannon explain why some men become homosexual as a result of this experience, others ward it off by creating a fetish, while the vast majority overcome it.”

[Susanne Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy learning about Freud, although some of this book I had to read a few times but it’s fascinating. He did a lot of amazing things for the study of mental illness. Worth a read :)

[Laramzp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seite 44 sagt er Loch ist Loch

[Diogo Canastreiro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Portanto, segundo Freud, espremer pontos negros é um sintoma de esquizofrenia intitulado "substitutive formation" onde isso nos homens pretende simular o ato de masturbação. This is some Trump-level-stupidity right here.

No final do dia, eu só me pergunto se Freud fosse analisar Freud como paciente - com todas as analogias sexuais desnecessárias que o homem faz - o que é que Freud diria?

[cait · Rating 3 out of 5]

i fear i might become a freud apologist 😔😔😔

[Pranay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Acute observations on the nature of the ego and the machinations of the unconscious, mixed with bro asserting with complete conviction that everyone secretly wants to smash their mom

[Gabo deOz · Rating 2 out of 5]

En este libro Freud explica lo que significa el Inconsciente.

En los capítulos se detalla el aparato psíquico: utiliza las siglas Cc para referirse al sistema consciente, Prcc para hablar del sistema preconsciente y Icc para el sistema inconsciente. Que básicamente se pueden simplificar como: Yo, Super Yo, Ello.

El libro en general es una hipótesis de lo que significa el Inconsciente, y como se logra tener acceso a esa parte a la que todos hemos sido expuestos. También menciona el instinto como acción ligada al inconsciente.

Finaliza con algunos ejemplos clínicos de personas con enfermedades como la esquizofrenia. Con características como la paranoia, cambio de postura, problemas en órganos del soma como los ojos, reventar espinillas de forma compulsiva y reprocharse por el agujero, etc.

En realidad es una escritura compleja, muy técnica a veces. Además Freud siempre mencionaba que algunos pacientes veían vaginas en los agujeros y también veía falos por todos lados. Neuróticos obsesivos que ven vaginas en orificios de calcetines, y penes en la formación sustitutiva de los pies... Representaciones conscientes e inconscientes.

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shit crazy fr- I think Freud does a good job of showing both the legitimacy and necessity of the unconscious in explaining psychological phenomena like parapraxes, dreams, innervation, and other psychical symptoms of neurosis. These "gaps" in the data of consciousness simply cannot be accounted for in purely physical terms (though of course Freud is clear they are rooted in brain chemistry) and Freud helpfully demonstrates that there is a complex interplay of libidinal energies, investments, and repressions within our mental apparatus that shape our (non)awareness of our life and experiences. There's also a really fascinating discussion of schizophrenia in this work and it's relation to language.

This is probably the most "technical" work I've read by Freud as it was originally published in a 20th century academic psychoanalysis journal- Internationale Zeitschrift. Difficult but definitely worth it and interesting.

[Rowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting in many ways, but I find these "layperson" translations more irritating than accessible. The organization of the book is slipshod at best and hardly provides any sort of compelling thread to keep the reader interested.

[Roxanna López · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.4 stars.

[Ted J. Gibbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

We have long observed that every neurosis has the effect, and so probably the purpose, of forcing the patient out of real life, of alienating him from reality...

Brief but theoretically dense, this collection is a great foundational text for the fundamental principles of psychoanalytic thought.

[Lucila Armentano · Rating 2 out of 5]

No me gusta cómo escribe, pero dice cosas interesantes. Aunque es muy poco. Pero it's ok...

[Symeon Mattes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although many of the theories of Freud are considered from modern neuro scientific evidences not valid, nobody can denied that Freud was one of the first that managed to bring to light that our actions are not only influenced by conscious decisions but unconscious as well.

Through psycho analysis he was trying to help his patients unconscious decisions to make them conscious. Our actual wills are repressed by unconcious ones. Modern neurosciense has shown that unconcious and consiousness do not actual communicate to each other and what Freud proposed cannot be possible.

The book is a very good starting point for anyone who wants to read some of Freud's theories and take a small idea of what unconscious is.

[Anjali · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first Freud attempt. This gives a better understanding of the unconscious, preconscious and conscious and how they interact. Also about other concepts like repression, fetishism, negation etc..
A little hard to comprehend but a good one; needs re-read.

[Yulissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un esencial para entender los mecanismos de defensa, muy sintético y conciso con ejemplos ilustrativos y un orden adecuado para comprender el sistema psíquico. Sin duda, fundamental para entender el modelo Psicoanalítico aún con las respectivas actualizaciones ya hechas.

[Thom Webb-Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good collection of thoughts. Very dated.
I mainly picked this up for the strange views on fetishes but found the writing on suppressing trauma and thoughts on the intersubjectivity of trauma were genuinely surprising and interesting.

[Svein-kåre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bullshit from cover to cover. But it gave me å few laughs xD

[Amaan Ahmad · Rating 1 out of 5]

A headache!

[Ulrike Bungert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immer wieder faszinierend.

[Nadeen Bandar · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t know why I read this…I’m just a girl I should be at the club.
but honestly I need to start reading books that are just fun! This wasn’t fun (sigh) Sigmund Freud man.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aş vrea să explic în câteva cuvinte, şi într-un mod cât se poate de clar, ce sens i-a fost acordat în psihanaliză, doar în psihanaliză, expresiei de „inconştient“. O reprezentare – sau orice alt element psihic – poate fi acum prezentă în conştiinţa mea, iar în clipa următoare să dispară; ea poate reapărea, după o perioadă, complet nealterată, şi anume, aşa cum obişnuim să ne exprimăm, din
memorie, şi nu ca urmare a unei noi percepţii senzoriale. Pentru a da seamă de această stare de lucruri, suntem constrânşi să admitem că reprezentarea era prezentă în spiritul nostru şi în perioada intermediară, chiar dacă ea a rămas latentă în conştiinţă. Nu putem să facem însă vreo supoziţie despre configuraţia în care ea a putut exista când în viaţa sufletească era prezentă, în timp ce în conştiinţă era latentă.
Ajunşi în acest punct, trebuie să fim pregătiţi să ne confruntăm cu obiecţia filosofică după care reprezentarea latentă nu exista ca obiect al psihologiei, ci doar ca dispoziţie psihică pentru reluarea procesului aceluiaşi fenomen psihic, anume tocmai al acelei reprezentări. Replica noastră ar putea fi că o astfel de teorie depăşeşte cu mult domeniul psihologiei propriu-zise, că ea ocoleşte pur şi simplu problema, că stabileşte ca fiind identice conceptele „psihic“ şi „conştient“, şi că o
astfel de teorie greşeşte în mod evident atunci când contestă psihologiei dreptul de a explica, prin intermediul mijloacelor auxiliare ce-i sunt proprii, unul dintre cele mai obişnuite fapte ale sale, cum e cel al memoriei.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always wondered how Freud could simultaneously be regarded as a premier mind in science, and also a massive pervert. I now know. Most of the "chapters" (they're more like essays) in this book have a structure where Freud presents a really interesting point, such as what creates drives and how thoughts move from the unconscious to the conscious, and then will spend the last third of the chapter discussing how it applies to sex. Super interesting stuff, but it's very clear what his focus for the information was.

In saying that, it's a very engaging read. The ideas he presents are very interesting, and he doesn't waste words. Reading this book requires a lot of focus to follow the points being made - I suspect this was not intended for mass consumption, but rather for other scientists to read. He does not mince words or waste the readers time.

Rating:
4/5 - An engaging read that talks about a lot of very fascinating psychological concepts. If it weren't for the extreme focus on sexual drives and the occasional argument that I didn't think really flowed, this would be a 5/5.

Who I'd recommend this to:
Anyone with an interest in the foundations of psychology and the human condition.

[ManMothz · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the Introduction points out, these are papers in a more informal, "lecture notes" style than other works of Freud. The first selection, called "The Unconscious" is a delineation and explication of the mechanical parts of the unconscious namely the primary drives, the two principles (Pleasure, Reality, the death drive doesn't really make an appearance here), repression, and unconscious topology (The borders between the unconscious, the preconscious and the conscious). Because of this the papers here aren't really essential Freud, they serve as review of concepts explored in essential Freud works, mainly "Beyond the Pleasure Principle", 'Three Essays on Sexuality, and "On Narcissism." I think these works should be approached from that utilitarian approach, as another valuable chance to examine important concepts under a slightly different light; a study aid of Freud by Freud.

Here also is Freud's essay "Fetishism", which, in as far as juvenile interest goes, pretty fun reading. Part of me will never get over sentences like: "To put it more plainly, a fetish is a substitute for the woman's (mother's) phallus, which the little boy once believed in and which - for reasons well known to us - he does not want to give up." Sure, yeah. Right on.

[Krankenverse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to rate a collection of Freud's writings, given that they're so influential- am I going to say it's bad? These ideas shaped the modern world!
If you're a layman and unused to academic writing, like myself, you might struggle reading this. But it did feel worthwhile.
The introduction warns us that thinking about drives and the Unconscious has moved on since Freud's development of these concepts. Of course, that doesn't mean these ideas were any less influential on philosophy, psychology and literature. I wish I had read this, for example, before I read Lyotard's The Libidinal Economy.
The titular essay is the longest of the texts here, but you can see Freud developing his ideas throughout these essays. Each one adding another piece to his conception of the workings of the Unconscious and preconcious systems of the mind.
In fact, seeing him assemble the ideas in 'real time', as it were, is one of the most interesting parts of the collection. He was a guy to worked our his thoughts by writing, for sure, so we're reading nothing less than the thought processes of one of the great minds of the 20th century.

[Victor Tan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look into the relationship between the Unconscious and the conscious and preconscious. What I got out from this was the understanding of the distinction between drives and external stimuli, as well as an understanding that each of us as sentient beings performs a cognitive filtration process that moderates and mediates how our thoughts surface into the mind.

Freud also communicates the psychological mechanisms of repression, speaks about fetishes, and talks about the notion of an "economic notion of the unconscious" in terms of how psychic energy is vested or invested, which although seems to carry some intuition as to the nature of cognition, will merit further reading and reflection on my part.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Freud's many contributions to the study of psychology is fascinating, and although some scholars disagree with Freud, I can't help but share some of his ideologies. When I was Uni, I remember one of his essay's being on my reading list and thinking 'WTF' after reading it. Looking back. I now think it was because Freud was used out of context in terms of what we were discussing in the lecture, as I really enjoyed reading this post-University. Don't get me wrong some of the wording was unnecessarily complicated which sometimes made reading it confusing, but for the most part it was good. I think this is the start of my Freudian journey.

[Grace Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much preferred these translations to the Strachey translations.

To be frank, most of these short articles and writings were on the dry and technical side. They don’t contain the sweeping scope and literary flourishes of say, Civilisation and Its Discontents. You also see Freud really wrestling with himself and his work in these writings. Most of these writings are before Beyond the Pleasure Principle, where he makes the radical discovery of death drive.

Still, the essays on repression, fetish, and negation remain classics. It’s a well compiled short collection, but probably for more hardcore Freud nerds only.

[Alan Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Requires a lot of concentration and zero distraction. A thoroughly intriguing insight into the inner workings of the mind from preconscious to subconscious to conscious. Albeit, a great deal remains unknown about consciousness and Freud does give recognition to this fact in his writings. He famously attempts to explain various aspects of each and how they relate to one another , and - importantly - how they relate to the behaviours Homo sapiens manifest from day-to-Day. He explores various themes throughout and seeks to provide meaning and understanding.