Digestion, pt. 3

From our present vantage point it now appears that what Freud was trying to accomplish during the thirty years between 1890 and 1920, when the unconscious mind reigned as the sovereign concept in his psychological system, was to discover those determining forces in personality that are not directly known to the observer. Just as physics and chemistry make known that which is unknown about the nature of matter by means of experiment and demonstration, so the task of psychology for Freud was to seek out those factors in personality of which we are ignorant. This seems to be the meaning of Freud's statement that "our scientific work in psychology will consist in translating unconscious processes into conscious ones, and thus filling in the gaps in conscious perceptions." Freud is merely acknowledging the well-known fact that the goal of all the sciences is to substitute knowledge for ignorance. For example, man is not directly aware of the process of digestion as it takes place, but the science of physiology can tell him what happens during digestion. This knowledge does not enable him to perceive (be directly aware of) his own digestive processes as they are occurring; nevertheless he knows (understands) what is taking place. In a similar manner, one is not aware of unconscious mental processes, but psychology can teach him about what is going on below the level of awareness.

--Calvin S. Hall, A Primer of Freudian Psychology (1954)