ABSTRACT
This chapter presents Sigmund Freud's philosophical position within its historical context and shows why it is that the neglected concept of unconscious perception is, in truth, a very powerful alternative to the theory of transference. Freud was always adamant that the unconscious part of the mind was a theoretical entity which by definition could never be apprehended directly. He described it as an 'unimaginable substratum', unknowable in itself. The first of Freud's specific, explicit references to unconscious perception to appear after 1899 is found in 'Recommendations to physicians practicing psycho-analysis'. The unconscious mind analyzes incoming information; it 'interprets' information and 'undoes' distortion, that is it draws valid and accurate inferences about the inner life of others. Freud initially believed that the unconscious system of the mind was completely dominated by the pleasure principle. The autistic conception of the unconscious mind is a basis for the psychoanalytic theory of madness and cure.
