On 18 May 2006 at 16:55, Allen Esterson wrote: > I haven't been able to trace Freud's use of the "iceberg" analogy, > but, as Mike indicates, it originated with Gustave Fechner. According to > Ernest Jones in volume one of his biography of Freud, Fechner "likened > the mind to an iceberg which is nine-tenths under the water". The > citation is: G. T. Fechner (1860), Elemente der Psychophysik, Bd. II. > S. 521. (Jones, E., *Sigmund Freud: Life and Work*, Vol 1, Hogarth Press > 1953, p. 410. [Pagination in the British edition].)
I'm afraid I must allow a gentle rain on this parade to Fechner's haus for the iceberg analogy. Book 1, which I've examined and unsurprisingly not found the analogy, is available in English translation. Book 2 is only available in German. Allen's claim that Fechner used the iceberg analogy is based on a reference by Ernest Jones that Fechner said it in Book 2 in German (in the 1860 first edition). This is buttressed by other sources which also claim that Fechner said it, although they don't say where. Given that Book II is both old and in German, it would be accessible to relatively few people. So there's a reasonable chance that all citings of Fechner for the iceberg depend on Ernest Jones. So what's wrong with that? I agree that Jones is less likely to make up such a reference than, say, the New York Times. But examine the passage carefully. What Jones said, in expanded form was this: "He did not commit himself on the question of whether unconscious processes could be psychical, but of their importance otherwise he was convinced. "What is below the threshold _carries_ [italics in orig] the consciousness, since it sustains the physical connection in between". He likened the mind to an iceberg which is nine-tenths underwater and whose course is determined not only by the wind that plays over the surface but also by the currents of the deep". The problem is that the all-critical footnote indicator (superscript 2) to Fechner does not appear at the end of this passage but in the middle, exactly after the quoted sentence, "What is below the threshold...". Thus Jones is specifically referencing Fechner for the sentence which appears in quotation marks (our students should be so careful). The remainder of the passage, "He likened the mind..." may be Jones' attempt to clarify what Fechner had said. As this is in 1953, the analogy would come easily to Jones, the iceberg analogy by that time being in full float. Perhaps this interpretation is forced, but if I were Jones and I wanted to attribute the iceberg analogy to Freud, I would have put that footnote at the end of the entire passage, not in the middle. Yet the passage is ambiguous enough that people would tend to overlook this and instead think he was including the iceberg analogy in his citation to Fechner. I've requested a copy of the first edition of volume 2 of Elemente to see what old Fechner actually said on p, 521. It will be in German, of course, which I don't understand, but I think I will be able to recognize "eisberg" if it appears anywhere on that page. Stand by. Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Department of Psychology Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke (Lennoxville) QC J1M 0C8 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://faculty.frostburg.edu/psyc/southerly/tips/index.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
