Martin Liebscher

Introduction: thinking the unconscious

© Cambridge University Press 2010. In the entire world one does not speak of the unconscious since, according to its essence, it is unknown; only in Berlin does one speak of and know something about it, and explain to us what actually sets it apart. So wrote Friedrich Nietzsche in 1873, as part of his ironic response to the success of the Philosophy of the Unconscious (Philosophie des Unbewussten, 1869), written by the Berlin philosopher Eduard von Hartmann. If the influence of a concept can be gauged by the way in which it is received by the public at large, if not in academic circles, then Hartmanns volume, which ran to some eleven editions during his lifetime alone and was seen by some as introducing an entirely new Weltanschauung, might be regarded as marking one of the pinnacles of the career of das Unbewusste (the unconscious) during the nineteenth century. Although Hartmanns understanding of the unconscious was, like Freuds, subjected to a scathing critique at the hands of academic philosophy and psychology, it nevertheless took some half a century or so for Freud to supersede Hartmanns public role as the chief theorist and interpreter of the unconscious for the German-speaking public. Today the concept of the unconscious is arguably still first and foremost associated with Freud and with his successors such as Carl Gustav Jung and Jacques Lacan; in short: with psychoanalysis in general.

Rethinking the Unconscious

Since the publication of Thinking the Unconscious (2010), something that we already suspected when we began planning the book has been confirmed: namely, that to publish a book on the unconscious means addressing a variety of academic audiences with often entirely different expectations. In our introduction to the volume we maintained, contra the position of Henri F. Ellenberger in his Discovery of the Unconscious, that one cannot assume that the unconscious is a pre-existing phenomenon that was ‘discovered’, and that theories of the unconscious set out to elucidate by way of description. It is equally likely, we argue, that theories of the unconscious invent the ‘objects’ that they go on to describe: this, indeed, is what our title Thinking the Unconsciousmeans (3). It also of course means that different theories of the unconscious – elaborated by writers with differing philosophical, scientific, aesthetic, academic or even religious orientations and agendas – will create different ‘objects’, which will in turn require different descriptions. In short: the intellectual tradition to which one belongs will shape what one takes ‘the unconscious’ to be and what a book on this subject should do. The reception of our book has in fact proven this to be the case. To date it has received nine reviews, which have appeared in journals devoted to intellectual history and the philosophy of science, to sociology, to German studies and to psychoanalysis. We have been delighted with the range and depth of these reviews, which have – at least up until the most recent case, that of Wouter J. Hanegraaff in this journal – been generally positive and appreciative but also critical in constructive ways. Of particular interest have been the various subjects that reviewers have seen our book as failing to consider. Brett A. Fulkerson Smith, writing in HOPOS, expected a paper on Johann Gottlieb Fichte (168–9); Ulrich Plass’s review in the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association saw our book as neglecting ‘the oedipal tensions and ruptures that constitute all tradition’ and wanted more emphasis on Freud and his influences, but agreed

Culture and Identity: Historicity in German Literature and Thought 1770-1815@@@Nationalism versus Cosmopolitanism in German Thought and Culture 1789-1914: Essays on the Emergence of Europe

This collection of essays by scholars of international repute explores a particular polarity within 19th-century German thought: that of nationhood and European identity. Two factors were fundamental to the book’s conception: firstly, the recognition that perceptions of German nationhood have been a crucial factor within European consciousness since long before the existence of Germany as a unified State, and, secondly, an acknowledgement that bitter memories of the two World Wars of the 20 th century have sometimes obscured the record of Germany’s vast contribution to European cultural and intellectual history. Stereotypes drawn from such a legacy have fostered suspicion of German support for the idea of closer European integration and cooperation. For example, the evils of 20 th -century German nationalism are still frequently emphasized in the UK while comparatively little attention is given to the long historical tradition of German commitment to the idea of Europe as, essentially, cultural and political diversity-in-unity. At the beginning of the 21 st century, crucial tensions still characterize the dual consciousness of national and European identity. This volume seeks to promote understanding of the historical origins and development of such tensions as expressed in the work of some of the most significant writers, theorists, and artists of the 19 th century and across a broad spectrum of literature, music, philosophy, political criticism, art and architecture. The book also explores French and British reactions, both negative and positive, to German ideas of nationhood and European identity. As a history of ideas, it takes a multidisciplinary approach. Its unique contribution stems from this approach which maximises the variety and range of scholarship brought to bear on the topic and provides the reader with a broader intellectual and historical context than would otherwise be possible