Freud, Id, Ego And Superego

"The unconscious is not a concept, it is a rhetorical device."

Thus wrote Stanley Fish in his article, "Withholding the Missing Portion". Fish's article argues that Freud's primary concern in his writings is to convince the reader of the strength of his interpretations and the validity of his theory through his clever use of rhetoric. In particular, Fish refers to the rôle of the unconscious in Freud's theory, arguing that it can be freely manipulated by Freud in such a way that it can appear to account for any data acquired in practice. This attitude reflects the commonly-held view amongst contemporary scientists that Freud's theories are unscientific. In this essay, I aim to argue that while Fish makes a valid point about Freud's use of the unconscious as a rhetorical device, to consider it as only a rhetorical device and to dismiss its importance as a scientific concept is not only unjustified, but also impractical in psychological theories of the mind. Freud's theories, I argue, are no less scientific than other theories in science.

Before I assert my own arguments concerning this matter, I shall examine Fish's position in greater detail, in order to understand the extent of his claim. A rhetorical device, according to Fish, "is entirely constructed and stands without external support", and "that insofar as it has been installed at the centre of a structure of conviction it acquires the status of that which goes without saying and that against which nothing can be said". According to Fish, Freud's idea of the unconscious fits these definitions. By postulating a component of the mind that is completely inaccessible to us, Freud is constructing a theory that is entirely underdetermined by data. It cannot be validated or refuted by observation alone. Rather, as Fish says, "the unconscious… is a placeholder which can be given whatever shape the polemical moment requires". Thus, the unconscious becomes, for Freud, a flexible tool in his theory. Not only can be given any desirable shape so that it appears to validate his interpretation of his observations, but Freud can also select a particular interpretation of his observations that appears to validate his assertions about the nature of the unconscious.

It follows that Freud is able to make any seemingly inconsistent data compatible with his theory by manipulating his idea of the unconscious, or by adding to it new properties that resolve any inconsistencies. Indeed, he is confronted in his writings by data that appear to undermine his theory, and indeed he does find the resources to resolve these anomalies by delving into the mysterious world of the unconscious.