We may
say: “There isn't, except that we are
then using the word “to know” in a queer
way”. Consider this case:– we have a
general undirected feeling of fear. Later on, we have an
experience which makes us say, “Now I know what I
was afraid of. I was afraid of so-and-so
happening”. Is it correct to describe my first
feeling by an intransitive verb, or should I say that my fear had
an object although I did not know that it had one?
Both these forms of descrip
tion36.
can be used.
To understand this examine the following examples:–
It might be found practical to call a certain state of decay
in a tooth, not
unaccompanied by what we commonly call
toothache, “unconscious toothac
he” and to
use in such a case the expression that we have toothache, but
don't know it. It is in just this sense that
psychoanalysis talks of unconscious thoughts, acts of volition,
etc. Now is i
t wrong in this
sense to say that I have toothache but don't know
it? There is nothing wrong about it, as it is just a
new terminology and can at any time be retranslated into
ordinary language. On the other hand it obviously makes
use of the word “to know” in a new way.
If you wish to examine how this expression is used it is helpful
to ask yourself “what in this case is the process of
getting to know like?” “What do we
call ‘getting to know’ or, ‘finding
out’?”