ABSTRACT
This chapter gives the account of the ubiquity of unconscious phantasy in mental life. All mental activity, when it is not itself unconscious phantasy, depends on the concurrent and continuous operation of unconscious phantasy. This is because the mind is only active under the pressure of instinct, which must achieve satisfaction in all the organism's activities. Phantasy is not so closely tied to somatic conditions that it is merely an effect of them; but neither is it an utterly distinct mental realm. The point here is that phantasy must be sufficiently tied to the body to be the direct manifestation of biological instinct, and yet sufficiently determined by its mental features to be part of a fully mentalistic psychology. The chapter begins with an examination of the Melanie Kleinian concept of unconscious phantasy. For the Kleinians, unconscious phantasies are the engines of mental life, making possible the individual's engagement with the world in thought and action.
