ABSTRACT
In L’Automatisme Psychologique, Pierre Janet attributed the automatic actions performed by his patient Lucie to the activity of a particular form of consciousness located below the normal consciousness of the individual and described them as “subconscious facts endowed with a consciousness, which is below normal consciousness”. Janet wondered whether it made any sense to classify manifestations of automatism as unconscious acts and thoughts; perhaps they could be explained more correctly by hypothesizing a “division of consciousness”. Adopting a genetic perspective, Janet ended up favouring the evaluation of the level of articulation and capacity for thought rather than the complexity of contents. In Janet’s construction of his complex psychological and psychopathological theory, two phases can be distinguished: 1886–1916: the psychology of dissociation; and 1916–1947: the psychology of conduct. Janet uses the term subconscious due to its connection with psychological dissociation. The consciousness is considered a relative phenomenon, a specific effect of bringing into awareness, which overlaps with other tendencies and conducts.
