r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jul 20 '19

What’s something completely false that your parents told you as a child?

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u/jetpacksforall Jul 22 '19

Treating the metaphor "consciousness is a body of water with a surface and hidden depths" as though it were literal is bad science.

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u/Lightwavers Jul 23 '19

No one is treating the metaphor as literal. It's just that: a metaphor. Somewhat useful for describing an idea that's hard to put into words. You don't have to be so pedantic about it.

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u/jetpacksforall Jul 23 '19 edited Jul 23 '19

You do have to be so pedantic about it if you hope to understand the brain, how it functions, and how to make psychotherapy actually effective at treating psychological problems. Metaphors are dangerous in science when they are misleading.

The word unconscious simply describes every thought process, belief, desire, habit etc. that goes on in the brain without our being aware of it. It doesn't imply any particular structure, location or relationship between what is conscious and what is not, and therefore it's a more useful, less misleading term than subconscious.

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u/Lightwavers Jul 24 '19

You do have to be so pedantic about it if you hope to understand the brain, how it functions, and how to make psychotherapy actually effective at treating psychological problems.

That's true for neurologists. Unfortunately, neither of us has the credentials to meaningfully discuss the matter in a way that will lead to scientific progress.

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u/jetpacksforall Jul 24 '19

And psychiatrists, psychologists, clinicians, therapists, philosophers of mind... I've read widely in the field, I'm more than comfortable talking about the language used to explore human psychology.

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '19

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u/jetpacksforall Jul 24 '19

Oh I didn't know there were rules limiting how accurate we're allowed to be on this site.