It is easy to imagine the psyche as a single unified system within which various processes take place: perception, thinking, feeling, consciousness. Yet an attempt to represent its structure reveals an unexpected difficulty. The different ways in which the psyche can be divided do not fit into a single system of non-overlapping domains. The same elements simultaneously belong to different classes, while some distinctions operate at entirely different logical levels.
This difficulty may appear to be a flaw in the model or a failure of graphical representation. But another interpretation is possible: the psyche may in fact possess a structure that cannot be reduced to a single partition.
The model of consciousness proposed here assumes that the psyche is organized simultaneously through several independent distinctions. At the same time, the subject is atomic, the contents of the psyche are multiple, and psychic reality is unified.
These three propositions do not contradict one another. On the contrary, considering them together allows us to define more precisely the relations between the subject, the psyche, the environment, and independent reality.
Independent Reality and Psychic Reality
First of all, it is necessary to distinguish between independent reality and psychic reality.
Independent reality exists independently of the psyche and the subject. The organism, its sensory organs, and the brain themselves belong to independent reality. The effects of independent reality upon the organism are a necessary link in the causal chain, but this does not imply that ready-made psychic content is transmitted from outside into the psyche.
The psyche generates its own content.
The environment as an element of psychic reality is therefore not identical with independent reality. Independent reality exists independently of the subject, whereas the model of the environment consists of the contents of the psyche — the contents generated by the psychic functions.
This distinction is fundamental. Without it, it becomes almost inevitable to conceive of perception as the transfer or copying of some ready-made content from the external world into an internal one. The present model assumes no such transfer.
Independent reality participates causally in the emergence of psychic content, but the content itself arises within the psyche.
The Primordial Dichotomous Structure
Psychic reality does not first arise as something homogeneous that is subsequently divided into parts.
The model assumes the simultaneous emergence of several fundamental distinctions.
The most fundamental of these is:
subject — environment.
This dichotomy does not divide two independent realities. Both of its poles belong to psychic reality.
On one side is the subject.
On the other is the environment, the model of which is constituted by the contents of the psyche.
Independent reality is therefore not a third element of this dichotomy. It lies outside psychic reality, although the causal connection between independent reality and psychic reality is preserved.
Psychic reality thus exists from the outset as a reality structured by the distinction between subject and environment.
The Atomicity of the Subject
The subject occupies a special position within this structure.
It is atomic.
Atomicity here does not mean physical indivisibility, nor does it make any claim about the structure of the brain or the organism. The concept refers exclusively to the structure of the model.
The subject does not consist of psychic functions. There is no separate subject of sensation, subject of intuition, subject of feeling, and subject of thinking. Nor are there several subjects corresponding to different attitudes or different domains of the psyche.
There is one subject in the model.
The psyche, by contrast, is organized in an entirely different way. It is neither atomic nor homogeneous.
Thus, already at this level, a fundamental asymmetry becomes apparent:
the subject is one — the psyche is multiple.
This asymmetry, however, does not mean that the multiple psyche must somehow be assembled by the single subject into psychic reality. Psychic reality already arises as a unified dichotomous structure of “subject — environment.”
The unity of the subject and the multiplicity of the psyche are different properties of this structure.
The Multiplicity of the Psyche
The psyche is multiple in at least two respects.
First, its contents are generated by different psychic functions.
Second, the psyche is organized through independent structural distinctions that cannot be reduced to one another.
An attempt to represent the entire psyche as a set successively divided into non-overlapping subsets therefore leads to difficulties. One basis of classification intersects with another.
This does not necessarily indicate a logical contradiction. If classifications are made according to different criteria, their intersections are to be expected.
The Four Psychic Functions
The functional multiplicity of the psyche consists of four psychic functions:
S — sensation, or the perception of invariants;
N — intuition, or the perception of changes;
F — feeling, or the generation of significance for the subject;
T — thinking, or the generation of significance for the non-subject.
S and N are functions of perception.
They differ in the kind of perceptual content they generate. S perceives invariants — that which remains unchanged over a certain interval. N perceives changes.
Neither invariants nor changes, however, should be understood as ready-made psychic contents received from independent reality. Independent reality acts upon the organism; in the course of this interaction, the psyche generates perceptual content.
F and T belong to a different class.
They generate significance. F generates significance for the subject; T generates significance for the non-subject. In the latter case, knowledge takes the form of information.
The four functions thus differ primarily in the nature of the content they generate.
Rational and Irrational as Classes of Functions
This also clarifies the place of the distinction between rational and irrational.
It does not have the same logical status as the fundamental dichotomy “subject — environment.”
The rational and the irrational are two classes of psychic functions.
The perceptual functions belong to the irrational class:
S and N.
The functions that generate significance belong to the rational class:
F and T.
The rational and the irrational should therefore not be represented as two independent regions of the psyche alongside, for example, consciousness and the unconscious. They constitute a classification of already defined psychic functions.
Consciousness and the Unconscious
Another fundamental structural distinction within the psyche is:
consciousness — unconscious.
This distinction is made according to an entirely different criterion from the division of the functions into rational and irrational.
Each of the four psychic functions can exist both in consciousness and in the unconscious. It would therefore be incorrect to say, for example, that the rational functions belong to consciousness and the irrational functions to the unconscious, or vice versa.
Consciousness and the unconscious characterize not the kind of content generated but its position within the structure of the psyche.
Consciousness is directly related to the subject: the contents of consciousness are given to the subject. Unconscious psychic content is not directly given to the subject.
The distinction between consciousness and the unconscious therefore intersects with the functional division of the psyche.
For this very reason, the four functions and the dichotomy “consciousness — unconscious” cannot be adequately represented as successive levels of a single classification tree.
The Two Attitudes
Another independent dimension is provided by the extraverted and introverted attitudes.
These, too, cannot be identified with consciousness and the unconscious.
The extraverted and introverted attitudes characterize the relation of a function to the object. In the extraverted attitude, the object is posited as independent of the subject. In the introverted attitude, the object is considered in relation to the needs of the subject.
Each psychic function can occur in either attitude:
Se — Si,
Ne — Ni,
Fe — Fi,
Te — Ti.
And each of these functions in its respective attitude can belong either to consciousness or to the unconscious.
Once again, therefore, we are dealing not with successive divisions of a single set but with intersecting, independent structural characteristics.
Why the Psyche Is Difficult to Represent in a Single Diagram
We can now understand the difficulty that arises when we try to draw the “structure of psychic reality.”
Several things of different logical status have to be represented simultaneously:
- the fundamental dichotomy “subject — environment”;
- consciousness and the unconscious;
- the two attitudes of the functions;
- the four psychic functions;
- the two classes of functions — rational and irrational.
If all of these are represented as circles or nested sets, the diagram begins to contradict the model itself.
The reason is not that the elements of the model are incompatible.
They do not belong to the same logical category.
“Subject — environment” describes the fundamental structure of psychic reality.
“Consciousness — unconscious” defines a structural distinction within the psyche.
Extraversion and introversion characterize the attitudes of the psychic functions.
S, N, F, and T define different ways of generating psychic content.
Rational and irrational are classes of these functions.
A single flat diagram will therefore inevitably conceal some of these relations or create the false impression that different principles of classification are homogeneous.
The Unity of Psychic Reality
The multiplicity of the psyche does not imply a multiplicity of psychic realities.
There is no separate psychic reality of sensation, another of intuition, a third of feeling, and a fourth of thinking.
All four functions generate the contents of one psyche.
These contents constitute the model of the environment — one of the two poles of the fundamental dichotomy of psychic reality.
The other pole is the atomic subject.
The unity of psychic reality therefore cannot be reduced either to the unity of the psyche or solely to the unity of the subject.
The psyche is, in fact, multiple.
The subject is one.
And psychic reality is a unified structure whose fundamental dichotomy relates two fundamentally different poles: the subject and the environment.
In this sense, the unity of psychic reality is compatible with the internal multidimensionality of the psyche.
The One and the Many
It is precisely here that an intriguing analogy with monotheism and polytheism arises.
The atomic subject resembles the principle of the One: it does not divide into a multiplicity of independent subjects.
The psyche, by contrast, exhibits multiplicity. It contains several irreducible ways of generating content and is simultaneously organized according to several different principles.
As a metaphor, this structure can be compared with the distinction between monotheistic and polytheistic principles: the One on the side of the subject, multiplicity on the side of the psyche.
A literal religious comparison, however, would be misleading. Psychic functions are not independent subjects, still less analogues of gods. The analogy merely helps to reveal a more general philosophical problem, one much older than the distinction between monotheism and polytheism itself:
the problem of the One and the Many.
In the model of consciousness, the One and the Many do not exclude one another.
The subject is atomic.
The psyche is multiple.
Psychic reality is unified and dichotomous.
These propositions concern different aspects of the same structure and can therefore all be true at the same time.
Unity Without Homogeneity
A more general conclusion follows from this.
Unity does not require homogeneity.
For psychic reality to be unified, the psyche need not consist of elements of a single kind, conform to a single principle of classification, or generate content through one universal mechanism.
On the contrary, its contents are generated by different functions. The functions belong to different classes, occur in different attitudes, and can exist in consciousness and in the unconscious.
Multiplicity exists within a unified structure.
This may be precisely why an attempt to represent psychic reality in a single diagram consisting of non-overlapping regions proves unsuccessful. Such a failure does not necessarily indicate a defect in the model. It may indicate that psychic reality itself requires a multidimensional description.
Its unity exists not instead of multiplicity, but together with it.
In its most concise form, the idea can be expressed as follows:
The subject is atomic. The psyche is multiple. Psychic reality is unified.
And the fundamental structure within which these properties coexist is the dichotomy:
subject — environment.