John Searle's The Rediscovery Of The Mind
Philosophers and psychologists as far back as 3500 BC have extensively studied the inexplicable concept of human behavior. Despite the progression made in the field of psychology over thousands of years, there is still no definitive, irrefutable claim to the cause of human behavior. One of the more notable claims, however, is Freud’s theory of the unconscious. In his essay, The Structure of the Unconscious, Freud trifurcates the mind into the conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious. Freud argues that the conscious and the preconscious are both accessible to human awareness, while the unconscious is essentially a repository for feelings, thoughts, urges and emotions that the conscious mind wants to keep repressed from our cognizance.
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In his book, Searle offers two primary arguments for the implausibility of the unconscious: the first being that all thoughts are accessible to our consciousness, exemplified through the very argument and acknowledgment of the unconscious, and the second being the mind-body philosophy that all mental processes are caused by a physiological instigator. Both of Searle’s arguments are rooted in logic whereas Freud’s argument is rooted in observation and a successive hypothesis, however neither theory has been definitively …show more content…
Rather, he is redefining the unconscious as processes that are not directly related to thinking (and action). This would include neurophysiological processes such as neural impulses and synaptic activity. “On my account, talk of the unconscious mind is simply talk of the causal capacities of neurophysiology to cause conscious states and conscious behavior (Searle, 168).” Here, Searle contends that consciousness is real, but that it is caused by biological, neurological, and physical processes. He is categorizing Freud’s idea of the unconscious with the conscious and replacing the foundation with a physiological explanation. His epiphenomenalist views are incompatible with the Freudian claim that cognitive occurrences are causally efficacious. This argument also contributes to Searle’s refutation of the unconscious. He asserts that it is implausible that our behavior is influenced by an unconscious mental state because all mental events are caused by some physiological process. This suggests that Searle believes that human behavior is instead a result of neurophysiological impulses (Searle,
In his book, Searle offers two primary arguments for the implausibility of the unconscious: the first being that all thoughts are accessible to our consciousness, exemplified through the very argument and acknowledgment of the unconscious, and the second being the mind-body philosophy that all mental processes are caused by a physiological instigator. Both of Searle’s arguments are rooted in logic whereas Freud’s argument is rooted in observation and a successive hypothesis, however neither theory has been definitively …show more content…
Rather, he is redefining the unconscious as processes that are not directly related to thinking (and action). This would include neurophysiological processes such as neural impulses and synaptic activity. “On my account, talk of the unconscious mind is simply talk of the causal capacities of neurophysiology to cause conscious states and conscious behavior (Searle, 168).” Here, Searle contends that consciousness is real, but that it is caused by biological, neurological, and physical processes. He is categorizing Freud’s idea of the unconscious with the conscious and replacing the foundation with a physiological explanation. His epiphenomenalist views are incompatible with the Freudian claim that cognitive occurrences are causally efficacious. This argument also contributes to Searle’s refutation of the unconscious. He asserts that it is implausible that our behavior is influenced by an unconscious mental state because all mental events are caused by some physiological process. This suggests that Searle believes that human behavior is instead a result of neurophysiological impulses (Searle,