ABSTRACT
According to Sigmund Freud, when it comes to learning we are all like Winston Churchill. The psychoanalytic view of teaching and learning is thus deeply problematic, because the picture of the mind painted by Freud suggests that human nature is fundamentally at odds with reality. Freud suggests that unconscious phantasying only became split oft from conscious, reality-oriented thought as a result of evolutionary pressures—that is, it soon becomes apparent to a primitive mind that phantasy and hallucination tend not to produce results and satisfaction to the same degree as rational, reality-oriented thought and action. The problem or learning is not specifically addressed by Freud. The Freudian contention that the mind at its most fundamental level is irrational, implies that all learners are preoccupied with unconscious phantasies to an extent. Freud postulated that the mind functioned in its earliest stages according to the 'primary process', producing the type of irrational, pre-logical thinking which is characteristic of unconscious phantasy.
