Jeff, I think this would be a good way to point out the fallacy of
equivocation and let the students find other examples where the conclusions
reached imply a different meaning than the meanings of terms in the
premises. In addition to unconscious, try terms such as social reality,
reality construction, mind and mental, etc. It is easy for the reader as
well as the author of such arguments to get confused when terms are not
clear nor used consistently. See new-age gurus such as Deepak Chopra, but
also other pop writers. Gary Peterson
Saginaw Valley State
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Saturday, January 30, 1999 9:37 AM
Subject: Distinction between different meanings of unconscious
In discussing with my intro-to-psych students how confusion can arise when
we
use the same term to refer to different ideas, I often use the example of
the
word "unconscious." There is an everyday meaning of this term--a
"much-reduced
awareness of external events"--and a psychological meaning of this term--the
"set of mental events of which the individual is not aware." (Even the
psychological meaning of the term varies among the psychodynamic and
cognitive
approaches, but I am not concerned with that here.) Thus, the everyday
meaning
of the term involves variations in how aware one is of external events
(changes in the "state" of the conscious level) whereas the psychological
meaning of the term involves variations in how aware one is of internal
events
(changes in the "level" of awareness--e.g., conscious to preconscious to
unconscious levels).
I like using this distinction to make the point that controversies may
sometimes be due to the fact that the same term is used in different ways by
different researchers: students are familiar with both meanings of the term
but they probably never have thought about the fact that they use this term
in
different ways at different times (thus, it illustrates the problem for them
in their own lives). But, I have never seen this distinction discussed
anywhere. In fact, it seems to me that several intro textbooks (such as
Weiten's, which I used to assign), confuse the two meanings of the term.
Has anyone ever seen a discussion of this distinction between the everyday
and
psychological meanings of the term "unconscious"? Such a discussion might
help
me in making the point about different meanings of the same term; and it
also
might help me in making sure that the distinction I am making is a real one.
Jeff Ricker
Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale AZ
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
