Thinking the Unconscious - Nineteenth-Century German Thought

Since Freuds earliest psychoanalytic theorization around the beginning of the twentieth century, the concept of the unconscious has exerted an enormous influence upon psychoanalysis and psychology, and literary, critical and social theory. Yet, prior to Freud, the concept of the unconscious already possessed a complex genealogy in nineteenth-century German philosophy and literature, beginning with the aftermath of Kants critical philosophy and the origins of German idealism, and extending into the discourses of romanticism and beyond. Despite the many key thinkers who contributed to the Germanic discourses on the unconscious, the English-speaking world remains comparatively unaware of this heritage and its influence upon the origins of psychoanalysis. Bringing together a collection of experts in the fields of German Studies, Continental Philosophy, the History and Philosophy of Science, and the History of Psychoanalysis, this 2010 volume examines the various theorizations, representations, and transformations undergone by the concept of the unconscious in nineteenth-century German thought. Contents
Introduction: thinking the unconscious Angus Nicholls and Martin Liebscher
1. The unconscious from the Storm and Stress to Weimar classicism: the dialectic of time and pleasure Paul Bishop
2. The philosophical significance of Schellings conception of the unconscious Andrew Bowie
3. The scientific unconscious: Goethes post-Kantian epistemology Angus Nicholls
4. The hidden agent of the self: towards an aesthetic theory of the non-conscious in German romanticism Rdiger Grner
5. The real essence of human beings: Schopenhauer and the unconscious will Christopher Janaway
6. Carl Gustav Carus and the science of the unconscious Matthew Bell
7. Eduard von Hartmanns Philosophy of the Unconscious Sebastian Gardner
8. Gustav Theodor Fechner and the unconscious Michael Heidelberger
9. Friedrich Nietzsches perspectives on the unconscious Martin Liebscher
10. Freud and nineteenth-century philosophical sources on the unconscious Gnter Gdde
Epilogue: the optional unconscious Sonu Shamdasani.

Author/Editor Details
Edited by: Angus Nicholls, Queen Mary, University of London
Edited by: Martin Liebscher, University of London