The Boundaries of the Unconscious
The Issue of the Psyché-soma Difference
Abstract
The psyché-soma difference (Bartoš 2006) is one of the structuring themes not only of Western thought but also of modern psychology, which inherits this debate from the philosophical tradition and the religious tradition. Through a journey with early texts by Henri Bergson, including the psychology and metaphysics classes he taught at the Lycée de Clermont-Ferrand in 1887-1888, as well as the psychophysical parallelism of 1901, we address the difficulties pointed out in the monist position and its reverberations in contemporary psychology, which are commanded by neuroscience and cognitive psychology. We intend to highlight the impasses of the monist position that continue to be re-edited. In fact, despite countless technological advances concerning the issue of the nature of this duality, the debates seem to have stopped at the assertions that Bergson already denounced at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, which denotes the strong presence of ontological options that largely overlap with the empirical inspiration of modern science. What are the determining lines in the resistance to this debate? Why do advances in research technologies not correspond to advances in the argument about this duality? Are there practical consequences for the reading of reality when adopting the monist principle, which remains sovereign in Western thought albeit unproven? These questions will guide the reflection we begin in this work.
Downloads
References
Ahmed, S. (2017). Intentional Learning Vs Incidental Learning. Journal of Psychology and Clinical Psychiatry, 7(2).
Bartoš, H. (2006). Varieties of the Ancient Greek Body-Soul Distinction. Rhizai, 3(1): 59–78.
Bas-Hoogendam, J. M.; Van Steenbergen, H.; Van Der Wee, N. J. A. & Westenberg, M. (2018). Not intended, still embarrassed: Social anxiety is related to increased levels of embarrassment in response to unintentional social norm violations. European Psychiatry, 52: 15–21.
Beckermann, A. (1992). Introduction – Reductive and Nonreductive Physicalism. In A. Beckermann, H. Flohr, J. Kim (eds.). Emergence or Reduction? Essays on the Prospect of Nonreductive Physicalism. Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter.
Bergson, H. ([1887-1888] 2014.) Aulas de psicologia e metafísica. São Paulo: Martins Fontes.
Bergson, H. ([1889] 1991). Essai sur les données immédiates de la conscience. Paris : PUF.
Bergson, H. ([1893-1894] 1995). Leçons d’histoire de la philosophie moderne et contemporaine. Paris: PUF.
Bergson, H. ([1896] 1990). Matière et mémoire. Paris: PUF.
Bergson, H. ([1896] 2011). Matéria e memória. São Paulo: Martins Fontes.
Bergson, H. ([1901] 1972). Le parallélisme psycho-physique et la métaphysique positive. In H. Bergson, Mélanges. Paris: PUF: pp. 463–502.
Bergson, H. ([1907] 2016). L’évolution créatrice. Paris: PUF.
Bergson, H. ([1909] 2023). O inconsciente. In T. S. L. Bueno & F. Monegalha, (orgs.). Escritos sobre subjetividade e sociedade. Maceió: Edufal.
Bergson, H. ([1913] 2009). A alma e o corpo. In H. Bergson, A energia espiritual. São Paulo: Martins Fontes: 29-59.
Bergson, H. ([1913] 2021). Fantasmas de vivos e pesquisa psíquica. In H. Bergson. A energia psíquica. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2nd. ed.
Bergson, H. ([1913] 1972). Fantômes de vivants. In H. Bergson, Mélanges. Paris: PUF, pp. 1002–1019.
Bergson, H. (1913). L’âme et le corps. In H. Bergson, H. Poincare, Ch. Gide, F. R. Wahner, F. de Witt-Guizot, G. Riou, Le matérialisme actuel. Paris: Flammarion, pp. 7–48.
Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales (CNRTL). Retrieved from: https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/doubler (last accessed: 25/2/2024).
Chan, D. K. C., Tang, T. C. W., Gucciardi, D. F. et al. (2018). Psychological and behavioral factors of unintentional doping: A preliminary systematic review. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology.
Dehaene, S. (2009a). Le code de la conscience. Paris: Odile Jacob.
Dehaene, S. (2009b). L’inconscient cognitive et la profondeur des opérations subliminales. Premier cours. Cours au collège de France.
Dehaene, S. (2006). Vers une science de la vie mentale. Leçon inaugurale au Collège de France. Retrieved from: https://www.college-de-france.fr/fr/agenda/lecon-inaugurale/vers-une-science-de-la-vie-mentale-0 (last accessed: 25/2/2024).
Deleuze, G. ([1966] 1998). Le bergsonisme. Paris: PUF.
Dolbeault, J. (2012). Le dualisme de Bergson à la lumière de la phy-sique. Revue philosophique de la France et de l'étranger, 137(2): 191–207.
Duhamel, G. (1933). La querelle du machinisme. La Revue de Paris.
Dwelshauvers, G. (1908). La synthèse mentale. Paris: Félix Alcan Editeur.
Evers, K. (2009). Neuroéthique. Quand la matière s’éveille. Paris: Odile Jacob.
Farisco, M. & Evers, K. (2017). The Ethical Relevance of the Unconscious. Philosophy, Ethics and Humanities in Medicine.
François, A. (2013). Ce que Bergson entend par «monisme». Bergson et Haeckel. In F. Worms et C. Riquier Lire Bergson. Paris: PUF, pp. 121–138.
Freitas, S. de. (2018). Introdução à Fundamentação da psicologia científica. In W. Wundt, A fundamentação da psicologia científica. São Paulo: Hogrefe.
Freud, S. (1996). A história do movimento psicanalítico. Rio de Janeiro: Imago.
Henriques, F. M. M. (2016). O atual e o virtual em Bergson e Deleuze. 2016. 220 f. Thesis (Doctorate in philosophy) – Center for education and human sciences, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos (SP).
Higgins, E. T. (2005). Motivational Sources of Unintended Thought: Irrational Intrusions or Side Effects of Rational Strategies? In R.R. Hassin, J.S. Uleman & J. Bargh, The New Unconscious. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 516–536.
Hill, J. (2015). Noam Chomsky’s Critique of Materialism: An Appraisal. Teorie vědy / Theory of Science, 36(4), 437-455. Retrieved from: https://teorievedy.flu.cas.cz/index.php/tv/article/view/271/293 (last accessed: 25/2/2024).
Jung, C. G. ([1928] 1981). On Psychic Energy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Niro, L. (2023). The conservation of nervous energy: Neurophysiolo-gy and energy conservation in the work of Sigmund Exner and Josef Breuer. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, vol. 102: 1-11. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0039368123001036. Access on: 25 Feb. 2024.
Paz Monteiro, G. da. (2018). Um absoluto movente: considerações sobre monismo e pluralismo em bergson. Griot: Revista de Filosofia. Amargosa - BA, 18(2): 86–99.
Simanke, R. (2023). A fundação da psicanálise. Do neurônio à memória. Vol.1, São Paulo: Instituto Langage.
Simanke, R. (2011). Um Ponto Cego no Programa de Naturalização da Fenomenologia: O Conceito de Natureza. Psicologia em pesquisa. UFJF, 5(2): 108–116.
Viveiros De Castro, E. ([2009] 2018). Metafísicas canibais. São Paulo: Ubu, No.1 edições.
Zanfi, C. (2013). Bergson e la filosofia tedesca 1907 - 1932. Macerata (It.): Quodlibet.
Copyrights for articles published in Critical Hermeneutics are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal.
Critical Hermeneutics is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence CC BY 3.0
. With the licence CC-BY, authors retain the copyright, allowing anyone to download, reuse, re-print, modify, distribute and/or copy the contribution (edited version), on condition that credit is properly attributed to its author and that Critical Hermeneutics is mentioned as its first venue of publication.
