The Unconscious Abyss: Hegel’s Anticipation of Psychoanalysis

282 Pages·2002·1.19 MB·English

by  Jon Mills

THE
UNCONSCIOUS
ABYSS
SUNY SERIES IN HEGELIAN STUDIES
WILLIAM DESMOND, EDITOR
JON MILLS
tHE
UUNNCCOONNSSCCIIOOUUSS
aBYSS
HEGEL’S ANTICIPATION OF
PSYCHOANALYSIS
State University of New York Press
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Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mills,Jon,1964–
The unconscious abyss :Hegel’s anticipation ofpsychoanalysis / Jon Mills.
p.cm.— (SUNYseries in Hegelian studies)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 0-7914-5475-4 (alk.paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5476-2 (pbk.:alk paper)
1. Psychoanalysis and philosophy. 2. Hegel,Georg Wilhem Friedrich,1770–1831.
I. Title. II. Series.
BF175.4.P45 M55 2002
127'.092—dc21 2002017728
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my parents
—ab imo pectore

Contents
PREFACE ix
A NOTE ON THE TEXTS xiii
INTRODUCTION 1
Unconsciousness and the Unconscious
Unconscious Spirit and the Feeling Soul
The Intelligence ofthe Abyss
The Dialectical Structure ofthe Unconscious
Hegel’s Theory ofPsychopathology
Anticipating the Abyss
One RETRACING THE UNGRUND 21
Historical Origins ofthe Abyss
Boehme’s Influence on Hegel
Hegel’s Neo-Platonic Sources
The Spectra ofFichte
Enters Schelling
From the Ungrundto the Abyss
Two UNCONSCIOUS SPIRIT 53
On the Structure ofthe Encyclopaedia Geist
The Epigenesis ofUnconscious Spirit
The Anthropological Abyss
Naturalized Spirit
The Desirous Soul
Sentience
Unconscious Feeling
The Actual Soul as Ego
The Logic ofthe Unconscious
Toward Psychological Spirit
viii Contents
Three HEGEL’S PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY 99
Prolegomena to Hegel’s Psychology
The Structure ofMind
Hegel’s Theory ofConsciousness
Psychological Spirit
Comparisons with Psychoanalysis
The Dawn ofDecay
Four THE DIALECTIC OF DESIRE 135
Self-Consciousness Revisited
Desire and Drive
The Throes ofRecognition
Neurotic Spirit
Toward the Abnormal
Five ABNORMAL SPIRIT 159
The Ontology ofMadness
The Phenomenology ofSuffering
The Psychotic Core
The Sick Soul
Unhappy Unconsciousness
Symbiosis and the Absolute
Six IMPLICATIONS FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS:
TOWARD PROCESS PSYCHOLOGY 187
IfFreud Read Hegel
Openings to Mutual Recognition
Toward Process Psychology
Hegel’s Dialectic and Process Psychoanalytic Thought
Dialectical Psychoanalysis
NOTES 203
BIBLIOGRAPHY 237
SUBJECT INDEX 253
AUTHOR INDEX 259
Preface
This book attempts to excavate an element of Hegel’s work that has remained
virtually buried from visibility within contemporary Hegel scholarship.There has
been no extended treatment of Hegel’s theory of the unconscious, and apart
from a few passing references,what commentary that does exist is in relation to
Hegel’s rather concise remarks about madness or Verrücktheitrevealed mainly in
theZusätzeor Additions to his Encyclopaedia ofthe Philosophical Sciences.It is rather
ironic that the subject matter itself has eluded philosophical attention especially
since it plays such a vital role in Hegel’s philosophy of subjective spirit.The ab-
sence of any detailed treatment on the topic is no doubt due to the fact that
Hegel himself does not directly address the nature of the unconscious with any
precision.What few remarks he does make leave the commentator with the chal-
lenge of determining just how the role of the unconscious fits into his theory of
mind and to what extent it may be applied to his overall philosophical system.
There seems to be a continued fascination if not a fixation with the Phe-
nomenology of Spiritdespite the fact that Hegel never considered it to be a cen-
tral part of his mature philosophy.I should inform the reader up front that this
work is not about the Phenomenology,but rather about Hegel’s contribution to
understanding the psychodynamics of the mind.As a philosopher and practic-
ing clinical psychologist trained in the psychoanalytic tradition, I find myself
faced with a dual task informed by competing loyalties: namely, to expound
with philosophical clarity Hegel’s notion of the unconscious abyss while bring-
ing it into contemporary discourse with the discipline most commonly associ-
ated with the advancement of psychodynamic thought. By today’s standards,
Hegel’s treatment of subjective spirit constitutes a treatise on psychodynamic
psychology,one that merits our serious attention.This is particularly germane
given that both philosophy and psychoanalysis remain largely unaware ofHegel’s
insights on the dynamic unconscious.
Hegel’s theory ofthe abyss has profound implications for understanding his
philosophy of mind.One aim of this project is to spark more general interest in
ix