ABSTRACT
Human error is part of the almost unremarkable daily commonplace of the errors, slips of the tongue, accidental actions and lapses of memory, which Sigmund Freud grouped together under the heading of 'parapraxes'. Freud was particularly fond of using such apparently trivial phenomena to launch his theory of unconscious mental life when addressing lay audiences. In the case of accidents some of the reasons for this resistance are obvious: it might appear that unconscious intentions imply a clear and straightforward relation to issues of responsibility and blame. As a psychoanalyst one cannot but fail to be impressed not only with the evidence of the unconscious meaning of errors and accidents, but also with the precision of the unconscious in bringing about situations in the external world which can so accurately express inner situations. Some patients who make frequent suicide attempts, have, consciously, no intention of dying but achieve an excitement by gambling with death.
