@DrGipps I think some people hide behind words or use words to disguise what they think or feel. But there are people whose words are pure and true. Like the crystal clear waters of a stream.

@katherineveritt must be Kant then ...

@nyctherapist Many thanks. What about Kohut and Kernberg? Also be really helpful to have a top five or top books. Otherwise I am going to be stuck in the library between now and Christmas!

A lot of scientific studies suggest that processes take place in the mind that we are not consciously aware of. Does this provide empirical evidence for psychoanalysis? No, the real justification for Freud's concept of the unconscious is not of this kind.

Carveth glosses this as - in the early 20th century people struggled with trying to live up to what society told them they ought to be. Today people struggle because they have no idea what they ought to be.

@nate_postlethwt Becoming a father.

@the_mel_jar You don't mention encouraging them to think that people will like them if they have orange-coloured skin.

Are machines on the point of becoming more intelligent than us? Are they on the verge of becoming conscious? If so, how will we know this is the case? Ironically, it won't have anything to do with their being able to outperform us!

@DrGipps @darrenhabermft This one is also quite interesting. Google Ngrams: unconscious, subconscious, 1800-2022

@DrGipps @darrenhabermft I wonder when people started talking about "conscious feelings". I think that before (Cartesian) philosophers created the concept of consciousness, people just talked of having feelings (& thoughts etc). And that would include having feelings they did not quite understand.

Elon Musk thinks the Singularity might occur in 2029, but how will we know when it occurs? How we will know if machines really are conscious?

@DrGipps Or physical, psychological, social or ...

@DrGipps Well whatever happens they will certainly boost profits and that can't be bad.

@DrGipps Both sides of the philosophical debate seem to get this wrong. There is a self easily leads to confusion as you suggest. But there is no self can also be unhelpful if it leaves us alienated from our past. As in, nothing links me and the five-year-old I once was.

@keithfrankish @Philip_Goff 2.57%

@philpsychpsy How do we distinguish genuine & non-genuine religious experiences? It is hard to base it on whether God was really involved. I suppose we distinguish between experiences we respect & those we don't or can't. Sometimes religious belief seems profoundly based, sometimes less so.

Wittgenstein argued that reasons and causes provide very different types of explanation. This is important in philosophy, but surprisingly it is also essential if we are to understand the value both of Freud’s work and of psychoanalysis in general.