Five the UNCONSCIOUS in EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Five THE UNCONSCIOUS IN EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY In the second half of the nineteenth century, as the theory of the unconscious, metaphysically posited by Arthur Schopenhauer and Eduard von Hartmann, was applied to psychological philosophy by Henri Bergson, it was supplying literary inspiration and literary themes to Russian and Scandinavian literature. Experi- mental psychology was using a new approach to better study the nature of the unconscious and the problems it raises; it was just emerging from empirical practices to become a scientific discipline. Applying rigorous methods and defined principles to an examination of psychological life, researchers discovered the unconscious at every step, in its normal and abnormal manifestations. Just beginning in the scientific age, experimental psychology lent its sup- port to theoretical principles that so far had dominated the study of the unconscious and later greatly increased the knowledge acquired in this way. Physicians sought ways of controlling and influencing the unconscious to cure neurotic diseases and in some cases traumatic illnesses. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the then dominant materialistic concepts inspired and guided these experiments. The theory of cerebral localizations still prevailed and all mental diseases were attributed to physiological causes. Mental life was still appraised according to the principles expounded in Hippolyte-Adolphe Taine’s De l’intelligence (1883) (About Intelligence), which, though subjected to violent attacks by Vincent de- Paul-Marie-Ferdinand Brunetière and Paul Bourget and losing ground in literature, still reigned supreme in psychology. Eventually, the progress of spiritualism in speculative philosophy, notably through Bergsonism and the deeper knowledge of mental life, forced psychology to alter a position that was becoming increasingly untenable. The discovery of the extraordinary versatility and subtlety of the unconscious made a more proba- ble explanation of mental disorders due solely to traumatic lesions. Already the first school of Nancy abandoned the physiological explanation and solution pro- posed by Jean-Martin Charcot. Hippolyte Bernheim recognized that the theory of cerebral localizations was no longer tenable (1891; 1927). Like the other pheno- mena of mental life, the unconscious was later divorced from physiology and emerged as the quality of a spiritual substance. It was unaffected by cerebral lesions, sometimes disturbed in a healthy brain, and occasionally the cause, not the effect, of physiological diseases. The emphasis on the unconscious in experimental psychology had its source in the scientific observation of psychopathic cases and owed little to the metaphysics of the unconscious. Yet we may establish, if not a positive influence 106 THE UNCONSCIOUS IN PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE of metaphysics on experimental psychology, a relation between these two widely separated disciplines. Théodule Ribot, one of the foremost exponents of the unconscious in neurotic cases, was also a professional philosopher and the founder of the Revue Philosophique. He was familiar with the philosophy of Schopenhauer and one of the first in France to give a complete account of the theories of Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (Schopenhauer, 1848). Pierre Janet, a collaborator of Charcot at La Salpétrière and himself a psychologist of note, often had recourse to speculative philosophy, especially to Pierre Maine de Biran, Schopenhauer, and von Hartmann, to justify metaphysically his conclusions founded on experience. Historically, we may legitimately consider experimental psychology as a natural outgrowth of experiments carried out under the name of mesmerism or magnetism since the beginning of the nineteenth century, without any scientific control and in an atmosphere half mystical and half superstitious, which favored illusionism and fraud (Viatte, 1942, chap. 1). For purposes of simplification, we may divide this rapid survey of the histo- ry of the unconscious in experimental psychology into three phases, which show many similarities among theories and practices. They are represented by the school of Paris under the leadership of Charcot, the first school of Nancy with Bernheim and Hippolyte Liebault, and the second school of Nancy, which followed Émile Coué. Other psychologists who conducted independent research and do not belong formally to any of these groups fall easily within one of the three classifications to which their theories are related. Janet was connected with the school of Paris because he worked with Char- cot at La Salpétrière. He simultaneously pursued studies in psychology and medicine, and he acquired a Doctorate of Letters with the thesis L’automatisme psychologique (1889b) (Psychological Automatism), and a doctorate in medicine with another dissertation entitled L’état mental des hystériques (1977/1901) (The Mental State of Hystericals). This new and significant alliance between psychology and medicine became the dominant trait of experimental psychology, increasingly directed toward psychiatry and the treatment of neuroses. Janet was appointed professor of philosophy at the Lycée of Le Havre. There he worked at the hospital of that city in close collaboration with the medical staff, studying mental cases (Janet, 1930–1936). L’automatisme psychologique concerns the masters who might have helped Janet to construct the theoretical principles that guided his research or were de- rived from it. He frequently quotes Schopenhauer, von Hartmann, and, to a lesser extent, Gottfried Leibniz. He remarked that Maine de Biran went far beyond a mere theoretical knowledge in his study of the unconscious and he quoted that philosopher’s Journal intime (Maine de Biran, 1927–1931) (Intimate Journal) on the psychological aspects of distraction. Janet was also interested in the discre- dited experiments of the magnétiseurs (hypnotizers), which he followed assi- duously. Janet and his successors and disciples were not primarily seeking a theoretical knowledge of the unconscious, but a therapeutic approach to mental disturbances arising from the unconscious. The knowledge of the unconscious .

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