What Can we Know?

IRRATIONAL MAN
Whether rationalist or materialist, all previous concepts of human learning saw it as a process of conscious interaction with the external environment. In terms of behaviour at least, Freud turned learning and development inside out. The development of human behaviour was driven from within by irrational drives and controlled by the repression of these natural urges. Freudian theory of repression can account for much of normal human behaviour, not just neuroses. The rational man seeking higher understanding of universal truths as expounded by Plato and Déscartes gives way to a new understanding of irrational man driven by forces over which his ego has limited control.

INTROSPECTION
Instead of seeking understanding through the pursuit of universal ideals or through a higher being, individual egos can become more self aware through a process of introspection and psychoanalysis. The primary purpose of psychoanalysis is to plumb the depths of the unconscious. generally with the assistance of an empathetic guide. A process of free association which encourages the individual to say absolutely anything that comes to mind is believed to allow previously repressed thoughts and emotions to emerge into consciousness. Freud believed that this approach would not only lead to understanding of individual minds but also allow greater scientific understanding of the workings of all human minds. The fact is that psychoanalytic data are totally subjective and hence not verifiable in a scientific sense. So depth psychology can never be an objective science. It has shed new light on the on the human psyche - science or not.

UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCES

Slips of the tongue (Freudian slips) result when the normal barriers are weakened and impulses from the id cross the repression barrier into the ego. Dreams are similar in that elements from the unconscious intrude into the conscious. Dreams can act as fulfilment of repressed wishes, a reconciliation of conflicting demands. At a social level, religion performs a similar function, acting as a wish-fulfilling compensation for childhood weakness, a sort of "collective neurosis". Art too is a neurotic illusion, an escape from reality through fantasy for both the artist and society.