Abstract

The article deals with the discovery of the cognitive unconscious and its philosophical implications. In particular, we focus on the impact of the cognitive unconscious processes on the reliability of first-person accounts concerning the motivations for one’s actions. The first section of the essay analyzes the emergence of the cognitive unconscious during the 20th century and presents some studies that have paved the way for its recognition. In the second section, an experiment, often neglected, conducted by Charles Peirce and Joseph Jastrow and published in 1885 is presented. The experiment preceded the discovery of the existence of unconscious cognitive abilities in man. At the same time, it is shown how this experiment may also suggest a different interpretation of the role of these unconscious processes and of the relationship between them and the so-called personal level of description and explanation.