Perspectives Historical keywords Lifeline Unconscious Robert Langer is one of 14 Institute Professors,the hiahest hono iven to faculty at the massachusetts Inseparable from consciousness,the unconscious has Institute of Technology,Cambridge,MA USA.Heis d ti engineering.This year he won the Albany Prize in Medicin of the ceived but that determined behaviour without thinking. ng.t was the pro What has been the greatest achi iaenteoforeareni involves our discovery that it was possible to use polyn involuntary.With Carl Gustav Carus and Eduard von release of large molecule e th you coL unconscious w d only control th rmer was inc tion of the unconscious Concept ering various drugs,induding proteins emerged in 19th-century British physiology,through an a single injection or as Which event has had most effect on your work,and why? for poor chldren pla memory arose based on lean Baptiste Lamarck's thepr of the inheritance of acquired characteristics and Emst Shat part of your work gives you the mostpleud get nts and post ontain and What part of your work gives you the least pleasure? Committee meetings. 19th century,the unconscious pr s your most influential mento and why? ented an ideal term. twasaewee be My father taught me that a lot of good could come from ve helped people in p What is the best piece of advice you have received,and the "sovereign means for believing what one likes in fron whom? t could have been a science my postdoctoral work. s the basis o and how impossible other people seemed to think it was. that nearly anything was possible. rapy.It became a new edge of what was uncon rough th ogy and psy vays hope our research will improve people's healt uld refra one of the most powerful artefacts of psychology. fascinated with for the History of Medicine at UCL howIcould mix chemicals and see colours changing and ni@u reactionsoccurring,like rubber being made. t.com Vol365 June4.2005 1921
Unconscious Inseparable from consciousness, the unconscious has variously figured as its extension, supplement, or opposite. Its initial development took place in German philosophy with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s notion of the “petits perceptiones”, perceptions to small to be perceived but that determined behaviour without thinking. In post-Kantian idealism, it underwent its most extensive development. For Friedrich Schelling, it was the productive force or ground of consciousness. Consciousness was equated with volition, and the unconscious with the involuntary. With Carl Gustav Carus and Eduard von Hartmann, while the notion of consciousness waned, that of the unconscious waxed. What had been ascribed to the former was increasingly ascribed to the latter. But philosophy was not the only place for the elaboration of the unconscious. Concepts of the unconscious emerged in 19th-century British physiology, through an expansion of the idea of reflex action. Under the rubric of “unconscious cerebration”, William Carpenter maintained that a large proportion of mental activity took place automatically. In biology, notions of organic memory arose, based on Jean Baptiste Lamarck’s theory of the inheritance of acquired characteristics and Ernst Haeckel’s biogenetic law, that ontogeny recapitulated phylogeny. Transindividual and collective concepts of the unconscious were developed, wherein the unconscious was seen to contain and transmit the history of the race. For the new psychologies of the late 19th century, the unconscious presented an ideal term. It was a site where new universal laws could be discovered. There was little that could not be explained via the unconscious: dreams, delusions, passions, inspirations, and even religious experience. For William James, it was the “sovereign means for believing what one likes in psychology, and turning what could have been a science into a tumbling ground for whimsies”. As the basis for an explanation of psychopathology, the term was taken up in 20th-century psychiatry, and more widely within psychotherapy. It became a new source for self-knowledge and came to signify knowledge of what was unconscious to the self. Through the effects of psychology and psychotherapy, the unconscious became an optional ontology through which individuals could reframe their lives. As such, it has become one of the most powerful artefacts of psychology. Sonu Shamdasani Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL s.shamdasani@ucl.ac.uk Perspectives Robert Langeris one of 14 Institute Professors, the highest honour given to faculty, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. He is a chemical engineer whose work with polymers helped pave the way for implantable drug-delivery devices and tissue engineering. This year he won the Albany Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research for his work on the development of drug-delivery systems. He is the youngest person ever, at 43 years, to be elected to all three US National Academies. What has been the greatest achievement of your career? This is a hard question to answer, but let me cite one. It involves our discovery that it was possible to use polymers to control the release of ionic species and large molecules. Before this, scientists thought you could only control the delivery of a few molecules. When we first discovered this, it met with a lot of scepticism. This discovery has led to new ways of delivering various drugs, including proteins and peptides, for long periods from a single injection or as a coating on a device such as a stent. Which event has had most effect on your work, and why? When I was younger, I worked in schools for poor children and hospitals for children. This made me want to do whatever I could to help in education and medical research. What part of your work gives you the most pleasure? Seeing my students and postdoctoral staff do well and get great jobs. What part of your work gives you the least pleasure? Committee meetings. Who was your most influential mentor, and why? My father taught me that a lot of good could come from science—science and inventions have helped people in major ways and changed the world. What is the best piece of advice you have received, and from whom? Judah Folkman, with whom I did my postdoctoral work, taught me that no matter how difficult something seemed and how impossible other people seemed to think it was, that nearly anything was possible. Do you believe in capital punishment? Yes, in certain cases. Describe your ethical outlook I always hope our research will improve people’s health. What items do you always carry with you? Blackberry. Telephone. Wallet. What was your first experiment as a child? As a boy I had a Gilbert Chemistry Set. I was fascinated with how I could mix chemicals and see colours changing and reactions occurring, like rubber being made. Historical keywords Lifeline www.thelancet.com Vol 365 June 4, 2005 1921 John Nikolai
