The Unconscious Abyss: Hegel's Anticipation of Psychoanalysis

A Note on the Texts

A Note on the Texts From the Encyclopaedia, M. J. Petry (Ed.) outlines Section 1 of Hegel’s Philosophy of Spirit in Hegel’s Philosophy of Subjective Spirit, Vol.1: Introductions; Vol.2: Anthropology; and Vol.3: Phenomenology and Psychology (Dordrecht, Holland : D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1978). Petry’s edition provides a photographic reproduction of Hegel’s original text published in 1830 along with the Zusätze added by Boumann when the material was republished in 1845. Petry’s edition also indicates variations between the 1927 and 1830 editions of the Encyclopaedia . His edition has several decisive advantages over A. V. Miller’s edition of the Philosophie des Geistes translated as the Philosophy of Mind. In addition to having the original German text and his notations of the variations between the 1827 and 1830 editions, Petry also provides notes from the Griesheim and Kehler manuscripts. He further provides an accurate translation of the word unconscious (bewußtlos) whereas Miller refers to the “subconscious.” For these reasons Petry’s edition is a superior text to the Miller translation. For comparison, I have also examined Hegel’s 1827–1828 lectures on the Philosophy of Spirit: Vorlesungen über die Philosophie des Geistes (Hamburg: Felix Meiner, 1994). I have mainly relied on Petry’s translation but provide my own in places that warrant changes. References to the Philosophy of Spirit (Die Philosophie des Geistes), which is the third part of Hegel’s Enzyklopädia, will refer to EG followed by the section number. References to the Zusätze are identified as such. I have taken some liberties in translating the German noun Schacht as abyss. Hegel clearly seems to prefer the word Schacht (shaft, pit, mine) to Abgrund (abyss, chasm) to stress the wealth of content contained in the unconscious soul. Yet Hegel does refer to an unconscious Abgrund in the Anthropology while principally relying on the use of Schacht in the Psychology. There is a difference between these terms and their connotations in standard, everyday German; for example, in mining a Schacht is a manhole. Perhaps translating them by a common word is at best a convenience forced by the fact that it is hard to find two words similar enough in English to convey their respective differences. However, xiii to use the word Schacht, as Hegel does, to stress the abundance of images and content deposited in the pit of the soul, is highly unusual. Schacht is and was practically never used figuratively or symbolically in this context, not even in past centuries, thus Hegel himself takes much idiosyncratic, poetic liberty when using the term in this way. Furthermore, Schacht and Abgrund overlap in their meanings in a number of relevant ways. A blurring of their distinctions is especially apparent when referring to the unplumbed depths of the human soul (die Abgründe der menschlichen Seele). The word Abgrund is also used in other contexts: Abgrundtiefer Jammer, for instance, signifies a miserable sorrow as deep as an abyss. Abgrund or Abgründe also has a frightening, uncanny connotation which indicates something cryptic, mysterious, or that which cannot be entirely known. Die Abgründe der Hoelle (the abyss of hell) is a frequently used expression implying the presence of uncontrollable or dangerous forces, such as demons or dragons. In other words, Freud’s id, the pressure of the drives, as well as depression or madness reside in the Abgrund , and any soul would desire to emerge from it. For Hegel, the abyss is the materiality of Nature from which the soul struggles to free itself, intimately tied to a sentient unconscious activity. I believe the significance of the term abyss captures a broader range of meanings associated with unconscious processes and contents, which Hegel clearly specifies in both the Anthropology and the Psychology. Furthermore, he uses the term unconscious (bewußtlos) when referring to both the abyss of the soul and the ego. Finally , we must consider the impact of Hegel’s historical predecessors on the formation of his thought, a subject matter I carefully consider in chapter 1. What is especially significant is Jacob Boehme’s use of the term Ungrund to explain the Godhead’s dialectical manifestation from its original undifferentiated non-being, a process similar to Hegel’s treatment of the soul. From Boehme to Schelling—who makes multiple references to an unconscious Abgrund—along with many neo-Platonic thinkers to which Hegel was exposed, Hegel’s use of Schacht presupposes multiple meanings. For these reasons I believe I am...