Psychoanalytic insight works only if the subject was already conscious of his drives

Evidence

Still, the enlightenment of the subject is a fact. There is an intuition here which is accompanied by evidence. The subject guided by the psychoanalyst does more and better than to give his agreement to an hypothesis; he touches it, he sees what it is. This is truly understandable only if the subject has never ceased being conscious of his deep tendencies; better yet, only if these drives are not distinguished from his conscious self. In this case as we have seen, the traditional psychoanalytic interpretation does not cause him to attain consciousness of what he is; it causes him to attain knowledge of what he is. It is existential psychoanalysis then which claims the final intuition of the subject as decisive. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1345

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes attaining consciousness of what one is from attaining knowledge of what one is — the epistemic claim underwriting existential psychoanalysis.
• XREF: Sets up the systematic foundation Beauvoir will assume regarding self-knowledge and lived consciousness. — connects to: Psychoanalytic truth remains alien because the patient cannot derive it from his own situation — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 282; Empirical psychoanalysis cannot explain why the subject recognizes the truth of its interpretations — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1344; Being conscious of one’s motives already places them outside the self — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1075 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Being conscious of one’s motives already places them outside the self #qualifies (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1075
• Maximum self-consciousness only reveals thought’s irrecoverable unconsciousness #qualifies (0.72)