Save

Conscious and Unconscious Phantasy and the Phenomenology of Dreams

In: Research in Phenomenology
Author:
Saulius Geniusas Professor, Department of Philosophy, Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong

Search for other papers by Saulius Geniusas in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6086-8309
Download Citation Get Permissions

Access options

Get access to the full article by using one of the access options below.

Institutional Login

Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials

Login via Institution

Purchase

Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

$40.00

Abstract

My goal is threefold. First, building on the basis of Husserl’s phenomenology of the imagination, I will argue that phantasy is a specific type of intentional experience, which intends its objects as neutralized presentifications (neutralisierte Vergegenwärtigungen). Second, I will turn to dreams and argue that non-lucid dreams are unconscious phantasies, which cannot be conceived in the above-mentioned way. This realization will bring us to the third task. When recognized as the most extreme form of unconscious phantasy, dreams compel us to raise anew the fundamental question: what is the nature of phantasy experience? According to the perspective I will here develop, phantasy is a specific field of experience that lies between two extremes: the fully translucent mode of the as if consciousness and the thoroughly opaque mode of absorption (Versunkenheit). Most of our phantasies, both conscious and unconscious, voluntary and involuntary, are lived somewhere between these two extremes.

Content Metrics

All Time Past 365 days Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 1678 289 19
Full Text Views 136 24 3
PDF Views & Downloads 317 50 4