In Freud's texts. Entry · Long entry · All entries · Ask the research tool
In the passages read, the term carries three senses.
The dated line runs as follows. In 1900 the preconscious is a system defined by its place. In 1912 it is a class term, and no system Vbw is named. In 1915 and 1923 the system is defined through word-presentations. In 1939 and 1940 it is a quality of the ego, and the word "System" is never applied to it.
The distinction a reader must not miss is that the texts let the qualitative character of the preconscious come apart both from factual membership and from actual access to consciousness. Formations that have the qualitative characters of the Vbw can belong by origin to the Ubw: «Sie gehören also qualitativ zum System Vbw, faktisch aber zum Ubw.» [GW X:289]. Parts of the ego that have «den Charakter des Vorbewussten» stay «unbewusst im phänomenologischen Sinne» [GW XVII:85].
In the passages read, the term carries three senses, all named by Freud himself: a system of the psychic apparatus, the Vbw (1900 to 1923); the latent that is unconscious only descriptively, not dynamically (1900 to 1940); and a quality characteristic of the ego (1923 to 1940). The exact years for Die Traumdeutung, for the texts of 1912 to 1933 and for the Abriß come from source labels, not from the pages. Freud credits Breuer with the word "bewußtseinsfähig" and with the distinction between bound and mobile energy, and he borrows from Liébault, in a footnote of undated origin, the thought that the dominant system withdraws onto the wish to sleep. He also reports in 1905 that his opponents took "unconscious" to mean what is capable of consciousness but unattended to, which on our reading falls on the side of the preconscious, rejects in 1923 the philosophers' proposal to describe Vbw and Ubw as two kinds or stages of the "Psychoide", and refuses rival terms such as Ober- and Unterbewußtsein (1900). The system is placed at the motor end in 1900, bordered against the Ubw by a censorship and hedged as an auxiliary representation; it is defined through word-presentations in 1915 and used in Freud's own voice in 1923, after which, on our reading, it falls out of use without explicit retraction, though whether it survives is held open because the 1933 drawing still gives the preconscious a space. Tensions held include the location of the censorship, reality testing, the link to speech (hedged for the system in 1900 though unhedged there for thought processes in general, constitutive of the system in 1915, only a sure sign in 1940), and the criterion of membership, where four criteria stand side by side rather than in a dated sequence: capacity for consciousness, the secondary process, word-presentations, and the relation to consciousness as only a sign. Sense 2 is kept to the last texts read: it has antecedents in 1900 and 1905, is first named as a class in 1912, is carried by other words in 1915, and is restated in 1923, where Freud calls these distinctions insufficient, and in 1933, from which point, on our reading, it defines the quality of sense 3. Sense 3 dates from 1923 only on our reading: three terms are first called qualities in 1933, "vorbewußt" is named a quality outright in Moses (1939), and the Abriß (1940, written 1938) is the first text read that calls the quality characteristic of the ego, counts it only as a sign and not the essence of the difference, and declares its nature unknown. Sense 1 is named for the capacity that sense 2 later names on its own, but in 1915 some formations belong qualitatively to the Vbw and factually to the Ubw; senses 2 and 3 share their criterion and are counted apart only on our reading of the Abriß, which lets large parts of the ego keep the preconscious character while mostly staying phenomenologically unconscious, though three pages earlier it defines the term by easy access, a tension held. A reader must not miss that the preconscious character can come apart from factual membership (1915) and from actual access to consciousness (1940), and must not confuse the preconscious with the system Bw (separate in 1900, named interchangeably with the Vbw in 1915, admitted in 1917 not to have been sharply separated from it, a tension held), with the ego itself, with "latent" in general, with the dynamically unconscious parts of the ego, or, as a quality, with the system Vbw.
Senses. 1. The system Vbw (1900 to 1923): a system at the motor end, bordered by a censorship against the Ubw, named for its processes' capacity to reach consciousness; on our reading it is plausibly present in 1905 as well. 2. The latent that is capable of consciousness (1900 to 1940): the latent that is unconscious only descriptively, not dynamically. 3. A quality characteristic of the ego (1923 to 1940): a quality that Es contents acquire when the ego takes them in and that repression removes; its 1923 start is our interpretation.
Where to read. - GW II/III:538-626 (Die Traumdeutung, ch. VII, 1900) - GW VIII:430-439 (Begriff des Unbewußten, 1912) - GW X:264-303 (Das Unbewußte, 1915) - GW XIII:239-255 (Das Ich und das Es I-II, 1923) - GW XV:74-86 (Neue Folge XXXI, 1933) - GW XVII:79-86 (Abriß, ch. 4, 1940, written 1938)
The entry is drawn from the long entry below, which gives each sense with Freud's words, dates and pages.
Three senses are counted, because the texts give the term three different places in the theory: a system in the apparatus, a subclass of the descriptively unconscious, and a quality that marks one province of the Ich/Es apparatus.
In Freud's words. - «Das letzte der Systeme am motorischen Ende heißen wir das Vorbewußte, um anzudeuten, daß die Erregungsvorgänge in demselben ohne weitere Aufhaltung zum Bewußtsein gelangen können, falls noch gewisse Bedingungen erfüllt sind» [GW II/III:546] (We call the last of the systems at the motor end the preconscious, to indicate that the excitation processes in it can reach consciousness without further hold-up, provided that certain further conditions are fulfilled.) - «Mit Rücksicht auf diese Bewußtseinsfähigkeit heißen wir das System Bw auch das „Vorbewußte".» [GW X:272] (In view of this capability of becoming conscious, we also call the system Bw the "preconscious".) - «das System Vbw entsteht, indem diese Sachvorstellung durch die Verknüpfung mit den ihr entsprechenden Wortvorstellungen überbesetzt wird.» [GW X:300] (The system Vbw arises when this thing-presentation is hypercathected by being linked with the word-presentations that correspond to it.)
What it means. In the Traumdeutung the Vbw is one component of an apparatus whose parts Freud calls «Instanzen oder der Anschaulichkeit zuliebe Systeme» [GW II/III:542].
When and where. - 1900, Traumdeutung. First appearance at GW II/III:546. The year comes from the source label. The pages carry footnotes from later years, such as the reference to 1925 at GW II/III:545. One footnote reports the word-presentation characterisation as a later recognition that "elaborated and altered" the view, and it refers to a 1915 work: «Diese Auffassung erfuhr eine Ausgestaltung und Abänderung, nachdem man als den wesentlichen Charakter einer vorbewußten Vorstellung die Verbindung mit Wortvorstellungsresten erkannt hatte» [GW II/III:615]. - 1905, Witz. In the pages read the text applies "System" to the unconscious, «die Verlegung der Witzarbeit in das System des Unbewußten» [GW VI:201], but never to the preconscious. The preconscious appears as a locality: «die im Vorbewußten fehlenden Bedingungen für solche Verdichtungen» [GW VI:192]. The parallel with a named system of the unconscious makes a systematic reading of these place-uses plausible, but it remains [ii]. - 1912. Only the Ubw is named as a system: «Ich schlage als Bezeichnung dieses Systems die Buchstaben „Ubw", eine Abkürzung des Wortes „Unbewußt" vor.» [GW VIII:439] - 1915. The system is named, but its name wavers: «unserem Schwanken in der Benennung des höheren Systems, das wir jetzt richtungslos bald Vbw bald Bw heißen, ein Ende zu machen» [GW X:288]. - 1917 (lectures). The second room is named «Wir heißen darum diesen zweiten Raum mit gutem Recht das System des Vorbewußten.» [GW XI:306] Looking back on the dream theory, the lecture reports that the difference in modes of working «wurde uns zur Charakteristik der beiden Systeme» [GW XI:307]. This is a retrospective report, not a new criterion. - 1923. The 1915 marks are reported as a first attempt: «Hier ist zuerst der Versuch gemacht, für die beiden Systeme Vbw und Ubw Kennzeichen anzugeben, die anders sind als die Beziehung zum Bewußtsein.» [GW XIII:247]. "Hier" points back to the assumption introduced on the same page with «An einer anderen Stelle habe ich schon die Annahme gemacht» [GW XIII:247], which the footnote ties to the 1915 work [ii]. The system is used in Freud's own 1923 voice on the next page: «so daß hiedurch gleichsam ein besonderer Sinnesursprung für das System Vbw gegeben ist.» [GW XIII:248]
Two things stay constant across these texts: the border with the Ubw, and the gap between belonging to the system and being conscious. What changes is which criterion of membership is foregrounded (see Tensions held, 4).
Freud's own or taken over. - The naming is Freud's own ("heißen wir"). - He credits the word "bewußtseinsfähig" to Breuer: «wohl aber bewußtseinsfähig (nach dem Ausdruck von J. Breuer)» [GW X:272]. He also credits Breuer with the distinction between bound and mobile energy [GW X:287]. - The thought that the dominant system withdraws onto the wish to sleep is borrowed from Liébault: «Diesen Gedanken entlehne ich der Schlaftheorie von Liébault» [GW II/III:576]. The sentence stands in a footnote, whose date the pages do not show. - He refuses rival terms: «Auch von der Unterscheidung Ober- und Unterbewußtsein, die in der neueren Literatur der Psychoneurosen so beliebt geworden ist, müssen wir uns fernhalten» [GW II/III:620]. He likewise refuses "unterbewußt, nebenbewußt, binnenbewußt" [GW XI:306].
Abandoned or kept. - From the start the systems are hedged as aids: «denn unsere Hilfsvorstellungen fallen zu lassen, müssen wir immer bereit sein» [GW II/III:614]. The 1917 lectures repeat the point: «Vorläufig sind es Hilfsvorstellungen wie die vom Ampèreschen Männchen» [GW XI:306]. - In 1933 the system usage is reported as past: «von einem System des Vorbewußten und des Unbewußten gesprochen» [GW XV:78]. Only systematic "unbewußt" is explicitly given up: «Gut, so wollen wir „unbewußt" nicht mehr im systematischen Sinn gebrauchen» [GW XV:78]. - The 1933 drawing still compares the space of the Es with that of the preconscious: «als der des Ichs oder des Vorbewußten» [GW XV:85]. Whether this use extends sense 1 beyond 1923 is held open (Tensions held, 9). The end date 1923 in the heading marks the last use the pages read show as clearly systematic. - In the 1939 and 1940 pages the word "System" is never applied to the preconscious.
The system sense therefore falls out of use in the passages read without an explicit retraction [ii].
Not to be confused with. - The system Bw. The 1900 text already sets up a separate system «für welches sich die Abkürzungsbezeichnung Bw empfiehlt» [GW II/III:620]. The 1915 text names the two interchangeably [GW X:272]. - Sense 2. Here the system term and the descriptive term diverge: «daß viele vorbewußte Bildungen unbewußt bleiben» [GW X:291]. Reading "vorbewußt" in that phrase as systematic and "unbewußt" as descriptive is an interpretation [ii]. It is licensed by the surrounding sentence on the same page, «daß vieles, was die Eigenschaften des Systems Vbw teilt, nicht bewußt wird» [GW X:291].
In Freud's words. - «Wir wollen daher die latenten Gedanken der ersten Gruppe vorbewußt nennen, während wir den Ausdruck unbewußt (im eigentlichen Sinne) für die zweite Gruppe reservieren, die wir bei den Neurosen betrachtet haben.» [GW VIII:434] (We shall therefore call the latent thoughts of the first group preconscious, and reserve the expression unconscious, in the proper sense, for the second group, which we considered in the neuroses.) - «Wir heißen das Latente, das nur deskriptiv unbewußt ist, nicht im dynamischen Sinne, vorbewußt» [GW XIII:241] (We call the latent, which is unconscious only descriptively and not in the dynamic sense, preconscious.) - «Wir heißen jenes Unbewußte, das nur latent ist und so leicht bewußt wird, das Vorbewußte, behalten die Bezeichnung „unbewußt" dem anderen vor.» [GW XV:78] (We call that unconscious which is only latent and so easily becomes conscious the preconscious, and reserve the term "unconscious" for the other.)
What it means. - A subclass of the latent. It is the part of the latent that passes into consciousness easily: «Wir fanden ein wirksames Vorbewußtes, das ohne Schwierigkeit ins Bewußtsein übergeht» [GW VIII:435]. The forces that exclude unconscious thoughts put nothing in its way: «während sie anderen Gedanken, den vorbewußten, nichts in den Weg legen» [GW VIII:436]. - Its counter-term. The unconscious proper consists of thoughts «die sich trotz ihrer Intensität und Wirksamkeit dem Bewußtsein ferne halten» [GW VIII:434]. - A dynamic distinction. «Die Unterscheidung zwischen vorbewußter und unbewußter Tätigkeit ist keine primäre, sondern wird erst hergestellt, nachdem die „Abwehr" ins Spiel getreten ist.» [GW VIII:436] - 1923. The three terms bw, vbw and ubw have a sense «nicht mehr rein deskriptiv» [GW XIII:241]. - 1933. The naming is a convention, «wenden wir ein erlaubtes, einfaches Auskunftsmittel an.» [GW XV:78]. It also has a stated limit: «Nochmals, rein deskriptiv ist auch das Vorbewußte unbewußt, aber wir bezeichnen es nicht so» [GW XV:78].
When and where. - Antecedents in 1900. The text first says of the dream thoughts: «Diese Traumgedanken sind an sich sicherlich nicht bewußtseinsunfähig» [GW II/III:598]. It then names such a train of thought: «Resümieren wir, daß wir einen solchen Gedankengang einen vorbewußten heißen, ihn für völlig korrekt halten, und daß er ebensowohl ein bloß vernachlässigter, wie ein abgebrochener, unterdrückter sein kann.» [GW II/III:599] The same sentence that gives the name also holds the train fully correct. It does not present correctness as the ground of the name. The criterion stated nearby is capability of becoming conscious [GW II/III:598]. The same work grounds the system name in that capability: «während das andere Vbw von uns darum so genannt wird, weil dessen Erregungen [...] zum Bewußtsein gelangen können» [GW II/III:619]. In 1900, then, the class sense is not yet held apart from the system sense [ii]. - A gloss of uncertain date. The printed Traumdeutung also glosses a punishment wish as «dem Ich angehörige, wenn auch unbewußte (d. h. vorbewußte) Strafwunsch» [GW II/III:564]. This is not counted as a 1900 antecedent. Its page carries a footnote marking «die Stelle für die Einfügung des später von der Psychoanalyse erkannten Über-Ichs» [GW II/III:564], and the dream discussed on the next page concerns his son at the front [GW II/III:565]. The pages read do not settle whether the gloss belongs to the 1900 text [ii]. - 1905. The preconscious is characterised as capable of becoming conscious: «Wir kennen die Charaktere des unbewußten Denkens und dessen Unterschiede vom bewußtseinsfähigen „vorbewußten" bisher nur aus den Ergebnissen eben der „Traumarbeit".» [GW VI:184] - 1912. First explicit naming as a class [GW VIII:434]. - 1915. The descriptive notion is carried by other words, not by "vorbewußt": «Das Unbewußte umfaßt einerseits Akte, die bloß latent, zeitweilig unbewußt sind» [GW X:270]. - 1923 and 1933. Restated. In 1933 the definition is given at GW XV:78, and on the next page the three terms are called «die drei Qualitäten der Bewußtheit» [GW XV:79]. One passage thus serves both sense 2 and sense 3 [ii]. - 1939 and 1940. The same criterion returns: «Wir müssen darum für unsere Zwecke „bewußt“ ersetzen durch „bewußtseinsfähig“ und nennen diese Qualität „vorbewußt“ (vbw).» [GW XVI:202]; «Alles Unbewusste, das sich so verhält, so leicht den unbewussten Zustand mit dem bewussten vertauschen kann, heissen wir darum lieber bewusstseinsfähig oder vorbewusst.» [GW XVII:82]. In these texts it is the definition from which sense 3 starts, so these passages too are shared by senses 2 and 3 [ii].
Freud's own or taken over. The naming is Freud's own. He reports that his opponents took "unconscious" to mean something capable of becoming conscious that was merely unattended to [GW VI:185]. In his own terms that sense falls on the side of the preconscious [ii]. He rejects the philosophers' hypothetical proposal: «Die Philosophen würden uns dann vorschlagen, das Vbw wie das Ubw als zwei Arten oder Stufen des Psychoiden zu beschreiben» [GW XIII:241].
Abandoned or kept. The criterion is kept to the last texts read. In 1923, however, Freud declares «daß auch diese Unterscheidungen unzulänglich, praktisch insuffizient sind.» [GW XIII:243], and on the next page he finds an unconscious in the ego that is «nicht latent im Sinne des Vbw» [GW XIII:244]. From 1933 on, the criterion is carried as the definition of a quality (sense 3) [ii].
Not to be confused with. - "Latent" in general. On GW VIII:430 the latent memory-idea is not called preconscious; the name is introduced only at GW VIII:434. In 1917 the phrase «vorbewußten (latenten) Traumgedanken» [GW X:417] leaves open whether "latent" is the dream-theory term or a gloss. - The dynamically unconscious parts of the ego [GW XIII:244].
In Freud's words. - «Wir müssen darum für unsere Zwecke „bewußt“ ersetzen durch „bewußtseinsfähig“ und nennen diese Qualität „vorbewußt“ (vbw).» [GW XVI:202] (For our purposes we must therefore replace "conscious" by "capable of becoming conscious", and we call this quality "preconscious" (vbw).) - «Das Innere des Ichs, das vor allem die Denkvorgänge umfasst, hat die Qualität des Vorbewussten. Diese ist für das Ich charakteristisch, kommt ihm allein zu.» [GW XVII:84] (The interior of the ego, which comprises above all the thought processes, has the quality of the preconscious. This quality is characteristic of the ego and belongs to it alone.) - «diese Qualität nur als ein Anzeichen des Unterschieds, nicht als das Wesen desselben, gelten lassen» [GW XVII:85] (accept this quality only as an indication of the difference, not as its essence)
What it means. - One of three qualities, and easy. What is preconscious becomes conscious without effort: «Das was vorbewusst ist, wird, wie wir sehen, ohne unser Zutun bewusst» [GW XVII:82]. - Assigned to the ego, with a remainder. «Wir sagen dann richtiger, das Ich ist wesentlich vorbewußt (virtuell bewußt), aber Anteile des Ichs sind unbewußt.» [GW XVI:202] - An acquired state. Contents of the Es acquire it when the ego takes them in: «in den vorbewussten Zustand gewandelt und so ins Ich aufgenommen worden» [GW XVII:85]. Repression removes it: «der Charakter des Vorbewußten wird ihnen entzogen, so daß sie wiederum zu Bestandteilen des Es erniedrigt worden sind.» [GW XVI:203] - Speech is a sign, not a condition. «Es wäre aber nicht richtig, die Verbindung mit den Erinnerungsresten der Sprache zur Bedingung für den vorbewussten Zustand zu machen, dieser ist vielmehr unabhängig davon, wenngleich die Sprachbedingung einen sicheren Schluss auf die vorbewusste Natur des Vorganges gestattet.» [GW XVII:84] - Its nature is deferred, and declared unknown. «Das Problem, welches die wirkliche Natur des Vorbewussten ist, werden wir später anzugreifen versuchen.» [GW XVII:85] When the question is put on the same page, the answer is «Nun, darüber wissen wir nichts» [GW XVII:85]. - A dynamic difference, held as an opinion. «immerhin halten wir an der Meinung fest, dass auch der Unterschied des unbewussten von dem vorbewussten Zustand in solchen dynamischen Verhältnissen liegt» [GW XVII:86]
When and where. - 1923, first link. «das vom System W ausgehende Wesen, das zunächst vbw ist, das Ich heißen» [GW XIII:251]. On the same page the relation is also stated in a region-like form: «Wir sehen es vom System W als seinem Kern ausgehen und zunächst das Vbw, das sich an die Erinnerungsreste anlehnt umfassen.» [GW XIII:251]. This sits beside the system usage of the same text. The 1923 pages read never call "vorbewußt" a quality, and they never call it characteristic of the ego. Counting this link as the start of sense 3, rather than as part of sense 1 (an ego that comprises the Vbw), is an interpretation [ii]. The start date 1923 marks only the first tie between ego and preconscious in the pages read. Whether "zunächst" means spatially nearest or first in time is not decided. - 1933. This is the first text read that calls the three terms qualities: Freud speaks of «die drei Qualitäten der Bewußtheit», which are not paired with the provinces [GW XV:79]. That "vorbewußt" is one of these three rests on GW XV:78 [ii]. The ego's «vbw Rationalisierungen» [GW XV:84] are not marked for sense. - 1939, Moses. This is the first text read that names "vorbewußt" a quality in so many words and calls the ego «wesentlich vorbewußt» [GW XVI:202]. Because parts of the ego are unconscious, Freud finds that the qualities «an die wir uns bisher gehalten haben» do not suffice for orientation [GW XVI:202]. What is found insufficient is the qualities together, not "vorbewußt" alone. He therefore turns to a topical distinction: «Wir müssen eine andere Unterscheidung einführen, die nicht mehr qualitativ, sondern topisch und, was ihr einen besonderen Wert verleiht, gleichzeitig genetisch ist.» [GW XVI:202] - 1940, Abriß (written 1938). This is the first text read that calls the quality «für das Ich charakteristisch» [GW XVII:84], and the fullest statement in the pages read. - 1940, Some Elementary Lessons (written 1938). The term does not occur. Every latent act is called «unbewusst», as in «dass es psychische Akte gibt, die unbewusst sind» [GW XVII:145]. The silence may reflect where the fragment breaks off [iii].
Freud's own or taken over. The naming is Freud's own ("nennen diese Qualität"). The name "Es" follows Groddeck's usage [GW XIII:251]. The Lipps citation [GW XVII:80] concerns the unconscious psychical in general, not the preconscious.
Abandoned or kept. The sense is kept in the last texts read, but at a lowered status: it is a sign, not an essence [GW XVII:85]. The question of its nature is raised at once and answered with an admission of ignorance: «worin besteht dann die eigentliche Natur des Zustandes, der sich im Es durch die Qualität des Unbewussten, im Ich durch die des Vorbewussten verrät, und worin liegt der Unterschied zwischen beiden? Nun, darüber wissen wir nichts» [GW XVII:85]. That answer is followed by the opinion that the difference lies in dynamic relations of bound and mobile energy [GW XVII:86].
Not to be confused with. - The ego itself. The ego «deckt sich, wie wir bereits erwähnt haben, mit dem Bereich des Vorbewußten, es enthält Anteile, die normalerweise unbewußt bleiben.» [GW XVI:203] - The system Vbw. In 1940 the Abriß turns to the relations between the qualities and the «Provinzen oder Instanzen des psychischen Apparates» [GW XVII:83]. That the province Ich takes the place the system Vbw once held is an interpretation [ii]. It is licensed by «Es und Unbewusstes gehören ebenso innig zusammen wie Ich und Vorbewusstes» [GW XVII:85] and by the statement that Es contents became preconscious «und so ins Ich aufgenommen worden» [GW XVII:85]. A further licence is the 1923 sentence in which the ego, starting from W, comes to encompass «zunächst das Vbw» [GW XIII:251].
Senses 1 and 2. Sense 1 is named after the property that sense 2 later names on its own [GW II/III:546; GW X:272; GW XI:306]. In 1900 the two are fused in one sentence: «Beides ist Unbewußtes im Sinne der Psychologie; aber in unserem ist das eine, das wir Ubw heißen, auch bewußtseinsunfähig» [GW II/III:619].
Sense 2 grows out of the criterion behind the system name. In 1912, though, it stands without any system Vbw [GW VIII:439] [ii].
They could be read as one model, a system named for a property. They are counted separately because the texts themselves pull them apart: - formations with the qualitative characters of the Vbw can belong factually, by origin, to the Ubw, and are then incapable of becoming conscious [GW X:289]; - the 1917 lecture reports in retrospect that, in the dream theory, the relation to consciousness «galt uns nur als Zeichen der Zugehörigkeit» [GW XI:307]; - the 1923 marks are those «die anders sind als die Beziehung zum Bewußtsein» [GW XIII:247].
The 1923 text keeps both senses side by side (GW XIII:241 and GW XIII:247). It does not say whether they pick out the same contents.
Senses 2 and 3. Sense 3 shares sense 2's criterion, "bewußtseinsfähig", and the passages that state it are shared [GW XVI:202; GW XVII:82]. In the ego it also takes over functions that the texts earlier gave to sense 1 [ii]: - the secondary process [GW X:286; GW XVII:86]; - the link to speech, now demoted from constitutive [GW X:300] to a sure sign [GW XVII:84].
Senses 2 and 3 could also be read as one sense with a later ego correlation. They are counted separately because the Abriß lets «den Charakter des Vorbewussten» hold of what mostly remains phenomenologically unconscious [GW XVII:85]. The Abriß itself frames this. It first says that the preconscious state is marked out by access to consciousness and by the link to speech residues, but «ist doch etwas besonderes, dessen Natur durch diese beiden Charaktere nicht erschöpft ist» [GW XVII:84]. It then offers GW XVII:85 as the proof of that point («Der Beweis hiefür ist»). On the text's own account, easy access is a distinguishing character of the preconscious state that does not exhaust its nature [ii].
This framing does not remove the tension inside the Abriß. HOLD TENSION. Three pages earlier the same text defines the term by easy access: «Alles Unbewusste, das sich so verhält, so leicht den unbewussten Zustand mit dem bewussten vertauschen kann, heissen wir darum lieber bewusstseinsfähig oder vorbewusst.» [GW XVII:82]. GW XVII:85 does not say whether the parts of the ego that mostly stay phenomenologically unconscious still have that easy access, and Freud adds «Wir wissen nicht, warum dies so sein muss.» [GW XVII:85]. Both passages stand. The split between senses 2 and 3 therefore depends on reading GW XVII:85 as overriding GW XVII:82 for the preconscious character of the ego [ii].
A passage of uncertain date. The printed Traumdeutung contains the gloss «dem Ich angehörige [...] (d. h. vorbewußte) Strafwunsch» [GW II/III:564], which brings ego and preconscious close. The pages read do not show that it belongs to the 1900 text (see Sense 2, When and where). It is therefore not dated, and it is not read as an anticipation of sense 3 [iii].
| German (verbatim) | Anchor | Our rendering | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|---|
| «Das letzte der Systeme am motorischen Ende heißen wir das Vorbewußte, um anzudeuten, daß die Erregungsvorgänge in demselben ohne weitere Aufhaltung zum Bewußtsein gelangen können, falls noch gewisse Bedingungen erfüllt sind» | [GW II/III:546] | We call the last system at the motor end the preconscious, because its excitations can reach consciousness without further hold-up, if certain conditions are met. | Birth of sense 1, defined by place and by relation to consciousness. |
| «Es ist das Vorbewußte, welches diese Arbeit leistet, und die Psychotherapie kann keinen anderen Weg einschlagen, als das Ubw der Herrschaft des Vbw zu unterwerfen.» | [GW II/III:584] | It is the preconscious that does this work; psychotherapy can only subject the Ubw to the rule of the Vbw. | The Vbw as a working, ruling system. |
| «Beides ist Unbewußtes im Sinne der Psychologie; aber in unserem ist das eine, das wir Ubw heißen, auch bewußtseinsunfähig» | [GW II/III:619] | Both are unconscious in psychology's sense; in ours, only the Ubw is also incapable of consciousness. | In 1900 the descriptive criterion and the system name are fused [ii]. |
| «Wir wollen daher die latenten Gedanken der ersten Gruppe vorbewußt nennen, während wir den Ausdruck unbewußt (im eigentlichen Sinne) für die zweite Gruppe reservieren, die wir bei den Neurosen betrachtet haben.» | [GW VIII:434] | We shall call the first group of latent thoughts preconscious and reserve "unconscious proper" for the second. | Explicit birth of sense 2, with no system named. |
| «Mit Rücksicht auf diese Bewußtseinsfähigkeit heißen wir das System Bw auch das „Vorbewußte".» | [GW X:272] | In view of this capability of consciousness we also call the system Bw "preconscious". | The system is named for a capacity; Bw and Vbw are not yet separated. |
| «Sie gehören also qualitativ zum System Vbw, faktisch aber zum Ubw.» | [GW X:289] | They belong qualitatively to the system Vbw, factually to the Ubw. | Membership criteria come apart. |
| «das System Vbw entsteht, indem diese Sachvorstellung durch die Verknüpfung mit den ihr entsprechenden Wortvorstellungen überbesetzt wird.» | [GW X:300] | The system Vbw arises by hypercathexis of the thing-presentation through word-presentations. | Structural definition of sense 1. |
| «das dritte unserer psychischen Systeme, das System Bw, welches wir bisher vom Vbw nicht scharf gesondert haben, näher zu bestimmen.» | [GW X:422] | to determine more closely the system Bw, which we have so far not sharply separated from the Vbw | 1917 undertakes to determine the system Bw more closely, admitting it had not been sharply separated from the Vbw. |
| «Diese Verschiedenheit der Arbeitsweisen wurde uns zur Charakteristik der beiden Systeme; das Verhältnis zum Bewußtsein, welches dem Vorbewußten anhängt, galt uns nur als Zeichen der Zugehörigkeit zu einem der beiden Systeme.» | [GW XI:307] | This difference in modes of working had become for us the characteristic of the two systems; the relation to consciousness that attaches to the preconscious had counted for us only as a sign of belonging to one of the two systems. | Retrospective report (1917) that, in the dream theory, mode of working characterised the two systems and the relation to consciousness counted only as a sign of membership. It is not a new 1917 criterion. |
| «Wir heißen das Latente, das nur deskriptiv unbewußt ist, nicht im dynamischen Sinne, vorbewußt» | [GW XIII:241] | We call the latent that is unconscious only descriptively, not dynamically, preconscious. | 1923 restatement of sense 2. |
| «Hier ist zuerst der Versuch gemacht, für die beiden Systeme Vbw und Ubw Kennzeichen anzugeben, die anders sind als die Beziehung zum Bewußtsein.» | [GW XIII:247] | This is the first attempt to give marks for the systems Vbw and Ubw other than their relation to consciousness. | 1923 report on the 1915 word-presentation marks of the systems [ii]. The system is used in Freud's own 1923 voice at GW XIII:248. |
| «Gut, so wollen wir „unbewußt" nicht mehr im systematischen Sinn gebrauchen» | [GW XV:78] | Well then, we shall no longer use "unconscious" in the systematic sense. | Systematic "unbewußt" is retired; systematic "vorbewußt" is not mentioned. |
| «Wir sagen dann richtiger, das Ich ist wesentlich vorbewußt (virtuell bewußt), aber Anteile des Ichs sind unbewußt.» | [GW XVI:202] | More correctly, the ego is essentially preconscious (virtually conscious), but parts of it are unconscious. | Sense 3: the quality is tied to the ego, with a remainder. |
| «Der Beweis hiefür ist, dass grosse Anteile des Ichs, vor allem des Überichs, dem man den Charakter des Vorbewussten nicht bestreiten kann, doch zumeist unbewusst im phänomenologischen Sinne bleiben.» | [GW XVII:85] | The proof is that large parts of the ego, above all the superego, which cannot be denied the preconscious character, mostly remain unconscious phenomenologically. | The preconscious character is detached from easy access [ii], in tension with GW XVII:82 (see How the senses relate). |
| «Es wäre aber nicht richtig, die Verbindung mit den Erinnerungsresten der Sprache zur Bedingung für den vorbewussten Zustand zu machen, dieser ist vielmehr unabhängig davon, wenngleich die Sprachbedingung einen sicheren Schluss auf die vorbewusste Natur des Vorganges gestattet.» | [GW XVII:84] | It would be wrong to make the link with speech residues the condition of the preconscious state, which is independent of it, though it allows a sure inference. | Speech is demoted from condition to sign. |
First edition, November 2026. Built from the German text of Freud's Gesammelte Werke only, read source by source; every German quotation was checked against the page it cites. References give volume and page, for example [GW X:291]. English renderings are our own. A mark [ii] means our interpretation of the passages, [iii] a synthesis across texts; unmarked sentences report what the pages say. Each long entry says which texts were read and which were not. Entries are revised as the reading continues; corrections are welcome at contact@llulllab.com.