The early unrepressed unconscious in relation to Matte-Blanco's thought

Abstract

The origins of the early unrepressed unconscious linked to primary experiences (some traumatic) stored in implicit memory are discussed in relation to the “structural” unconscious described by Matte-Blanco. Matte-Blanco's intuition relating to the bi-logic—symmetric and asymmetric—with which the unconscious operates is discussed in comparison with the “symmetrization” that characterizes the unrepressed unconscious described here. The hypothesis is advanced that this unconscious linked to implicit memory, marked by an indivisible and homogenizing set, and dominated by infinite emotions that make it similar to mathematical infinity, may work only with symmetrical logic. On this basis, the fundamental antinomy of human beings can be considered to reflect the opposing dual logic existing in the unconscious (repressed and unrepressed) and the opposing logic that characterizes the conscious with its asymmetry and the unconscious dominated by symmetric processes. The concept of bi-logic that Matte-Blanco applied to projective identification, and to the “memories in feelings” described by Melanie Klein, is also discussed. Although the split of the self may imply asymmetry and separation from the object, projective identification in itself appears to be dominated only by symmetric logic. This logic also marks the “memories in feelings” involving implicit memory as structure-building parts of the early unrepressed unconscious described here.

Keywords:

• Implicit memory
• unrepressed unconscious
• bi-logic
• symmetrization
• fundamental antinomy
• projective identification
• memories in feeling

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Pietro Bria for having read and commented on the manuscript, and for his useful suggestions.

Notes

1. When this section had already been completed, some theoretical-clinical papers were published in Italian in the Rivista di Psicoanalisi (2006, 52, 701–776) commenting on Matte-Blanco's ideas. See, in particular, articles by Pietro Bria (Bria, 2006), Alessandra Ginzburg (Ginzburg, 2006), and Riccardo Lombardi (Lombardi, 2006).

2. These cannot actually be recalled to memory, but nevertheless influence the person's affective and emotional life.