On the notion of feeling: a dialogue between Schopenhauer and Freud

Abstract

This article examines the possibility of knowing what occurs in the unconscious realm, based on an approximation between Arthur Schopenhauer's philosophy and Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis. To this end, the notion of feeling [Gefühl] is recognised as that which contemplates what is not restricted to the rational and conceptual. Initially, this dialogue is justified for historical and theoretical reasons, with an emphasis on the affinity between the authors' thinking regarding criticism of the limits of reason, consciousness and representation. In Schopenhauer, feeling is understood as the opposite of abstract knowledge, an immediate and fundamental form of intuitive apprehension of reality, and plays a central role in his theory of knowledge. In aesthetic contemplation, made possible by the feeling of satisfaction, access to Ideas is enabled, which constitutes a privileged mode of knowledge beyond the phenomenon. In Freud, it is the analysis of unconscious feelings that helps to unveil the deep functioning of the psyche, so that his metapsychology must deal with what lies beyond the limits of conscious representation. It can be concluded that, despite the differences between their theoretical projects, both authors recognise feeling and intuition as privileged paths for grasping the essence of the phenomena they investigate, so that artistic activity will offer the epistemological paradigm for confronting the limits of concept and representation.