logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2022
56m 51s

The Unconscious

ELLIE ANDERSON, PH.D. AND DAVID PEñA-GUZMáN, PH.D.
About this episode

What do Freudian slips, Josie and the Pussycats, and solving math problems have in common? Psychoanalysis claims to have some answers! Sigmund Freud suggests that unconscious desires, fears, and trauma influence us without us being conscious of them. In pop culture, the unconscious is often depicted as the realm of dirty thoughts and subliminal messages, but does the unconscious actually even exist? In episode 50 (!), Ellie and David explore the unconscious and the existentialist challenge to it from Jean-Paul Sartre.

Works Discussed

Sigmund Freud, “The Unconscious”
Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness
Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
The Exorcist (1973)
Karl Popper, Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge
Stanislas Dehaene, The Code of Consciousness
Jacques Hadamard, An Essay on the Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field
Jacques Derrida, “Freud and the Scene of Writing”

Support the show

Patreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast
Website | overthinkpodcast.com
Instagram & Twitter | @overthink_pod
Email | dearoverthink@gmail.com
YouTube | Overthink podcast

Up next
Jul 1
Air
Time to take in a breath of fresh air. In episode 133 of Overthink, Ellie and David close out their four-part series on the elements with air. They consider Anaximenes of Miletus’s belief that all things are made of air, Luce Irigaray’s belief that air is feminine, and the modern ... Show More
54m 11s
Jun 17
Earth
This one’s going to rock your world. In episode 132 of Overthink, Ellie and David dig into the earth for the third part of their four-part series on the elements. They discuss everything from earthworms and carbon dating to the “solidity” of the earth. They look to Foucault, Freu ... Show More
42m 9s
Jun 3
Water
Oceans, baths, ponds, and amniotic sacs? In episode 131 of Overthink, David and Ellie take a deep dive into the topic of water as part of their four-part series on the elements. They discuss how all life begins in water, and the conceptual features of water, such as its fluidity ... Show More
53m 33s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2022
Did consciousness evolve? | Donald Hoffman, Iain McGilchrist, Eva Jablonka and Michelle Montague
How did consciousness come into existence? Looking for a link we mentioned? It's here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimes'Steven Pinker and Sam Harris have argued "the emergence of consciousness is simply incomprehensible". While recent neuroscientists have concluded "there ... Show More
52m 6s
Feb 2021
Sigmund Freud in 10 Minutes
Sigmund Freud was a neurologist most popularly known as the founding father of psychoanalysis. He popularised and structured the concept of “the unconscious”.  Some of his most popular concepts include: id, ego and super ego, Oedipus complex, free association, repression, libido ... Show More
10 m
Jul 2019
Ep. 219: The Harder Problem of Consciousness (Block & Papineau)
On Ned Block's "The Harder Problem of Consciousness" (2002) and David Papineau's "Could There Be a Science of Consciousness?" (2003). What would give us sufficient reason to believe that a non-human was conscious? Block thinks this is a harder problem that we might suspect. We ca ... Show More
1h 23m
Jun 2022
76: Dreams & Consciousness: Man and His Symbols
“A story told by the conscious mind has a beginning, a development, and an end, but the same is not true of a dream. Its dimensions in time and space are quite different; to understand it you must examine it from every aspect-just as you may take an unknown object in your hands a ... Show More
1h 19m
Oct 2023
Subconscious vs. Unconscious
Do we say "subconscious" or "unconscious"? Is there a difference? And is that difference important? Let me introduce you to my psychodynamic pet peeve and help you never sound psychodynamically-naive again. 💌 Join my newsletter: https://psychodynamicpsychology.com/newsletter 👀 ... Show More
7m 35s
May 2022
Active Imagination: Confrontation with the Unconscious
Active imagination is a technique developed by the Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist Carl Jung. He considered it the most powerful tool to access the unconscious and for achieving wholeness of personality.     Jung discovered this method between the years of 1913 and 1916, a pe ... Show More
30m 44s
Dec 2021
Carl Jung and The Collective Unconscious
Carl Jung’s collective unconscious is one of his most well-known (and controversial) concepts. The collective unconscious is the aspect of the unconscious mind which manifests inherited, universal themes which run through all human life. He came upon the idea in a dream.   The co ... Show More
15m 29s
May 2024
The Consciousness Simulation & Hidden Ancient Wisdom | Timothy Desmond Ph.D| Mind Meld 390
🥰 Support TED and join the community on Patreon Timothy Owen Desmond, Ph.D returns to mind meld! Video version here 👈 In this brain-melting transmission, we riff on the surprising connections between ancient wisdom (both eastern and western) and modern physics. We also muse abo ... Show More
2h 25m
May 2023
Sartre’s Existential Psychoanalysis feat. Mary L. Edwards
We are joined by Mary L. Edwards to discuss her new book Sartre's Existential Psychoanalysis: Knowing Others. We discuss Sartre's concept of bad faith, the in-itself and the for-itself and the challenge that his philosophy poses to psychoanalysis. We also discuss Sartre's psychob ... Show More
1h 44m
Listen to millions of songs and podcasts on Anghami