Does the mind consist only of conscious experiences, or do mental states extend beyond awareness to unconscious brain states with genuine representational content? This second volume in Jerome C. Wakefields trilogy immerses readers in one of the most enduring debates in intellectual historythe multi-century dispute over unconscious mental states. Beginning with Descartes consciousness criterion and Leibnizs divisibility argument, Wakefield reconstructs successive rounds of argument through Locke, Mill, and others, culminating in a dialectical confrontation between Freud and William James and a novel argument for the importance of dreams in the debate.
Building on Volume 1s analysis of Freuds conceptual and theoretical arguments, this book examines the empirical dimension: whether phenomena such as memory, unnoticed mental states, gaps in reasoning, post-hypnotic suggestion, and dreams demonstrate unconscious mentation. Wakefield situates Freuds position within the philosophy-of-mind tradition and shows how Freuds synthesis helped pivot psychology from Cartesianism to a representational view of mind that underpins modern cognitive science.
Combining historical depth with analytic rigor, this volume clarifies what was at stake, what was established, and what remains unresolvednamely, the missing criterion for unconscious representation. Essential reading for scholars and advanced students in philosophy of mind, psychoanalysis, and the history of psychology, it also sets the stage for Volume 3s engagement with post-Freudian analytic philosophy.
Chapter 1 Introduction: The Multi-Century Debate Over the Existence of
Unconscious Mental States.
Chapter 2 Descartes and the Origins of the
Consciousness Criterion.
Chapter 3 Leibnizs Divisibility Argument for
Unconscious Perceptions.
Chapter 4 The Memory Argument for Unconscious
Mental States.
Chapter 5 Unnoticed Mental States.
Chapter 6 The Forgotten
Consciousness Argument: Descartes to James.
Chapter 7 The Gap Argument.-
Chapter 8 Beyond the Memory and Gap Arguments: Perception, Parapraxes,
Post-hypnotic Suggestion, Non-conscious Problem Solving.
Chapter 9
Unconscious Cerebration.
Chapter 10 Unconscious Mental States Versus
Split-Off Dissociated Consciousness, Part 1.
Chapter 11 Unconscious Mental
States Versus Split-Off Dissociated Consciousness, Part 2.
Chapter 12
Descartes' Dream Interpretation as a Challenge to Descartes' Account of
Mind.
Chapter 13 Concluding Remarks: The Missing Criterion for Unconscious
Representation.
Jerome C. Wakefield is Professor of Social Work, Associate Faculty in Philosophy and in the Center for Bioethics, School of Global Public Health, and Honorary Faculty at the Institute for Psychoanalytic Education, New York University, USA. Author of over 300 publications across psychology, philosophy, and psychiatry, his books include The Loss of Sadness (2007) and Foucault versus Freud (2025).
