The concept of the unconscious is greatly neglected in the area of education, while in the area of mental health it tends to be limited to psychoanalytic studies that represent only a minor part compared to the cognitive-behavioural orientation currently in vogue. Learning with the Unconscious demonstrates the importance of addressing the unconscious dimension and challenges the received notion of learning as solely academic, cognitive and linguistic, instead offering an ethico-aesthetic paradigm informed by edusemiotics, which offers a new direction in educational theory. Denouncing either-or categorising in favour of a seemingly paradoxical both-and approach, edusemiotics transgresses the boundaries between body and mind, matter and spirit, consciousness and the unconscious. The book argues for holistic education for both children and adults throughout life, thus challenging the widespread approach to lifelong education as merely professional training. This approach rejects the schism between matter and spirit that pervades Western thinking and represents a paradigm shift in rethinking spirituality in education and counselling from psychological, philosophical and semiotic perspectives, while never separating it from logic and reason. The book analyses in detail the role of habits of which we usually remain unconscious. Semetsky argues that experiencing, and subsequently giving voice to that which is usually bypassed in silence, contributes to human learning, thereby eliciting transformations in our habits.Learning with the Unconscious combines educational semiotics with moral psychology and existential philosophy, keeping the focus on meaning for experience. As such, it is essential reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate students across the fields of philosophy, education, religion, psychology, counselling, mental health, nursing and cultural studies.
