In The Freudian Wish and its Place in Ethics by Edwin Bissel Holt, Holt

critiques and shapes Freud’s idea of the “wish”. Freud does not focus on the wish in his

writings, so Holt takes this chance to expand on Freud's ideas. Holt makes a compelling

argument in support of Freud’s wish by incorporating behaviorist ideas that quite literally

make the unconscious visible. He does this in a forcefully way making his argument all

the more convincing. Although this book is considered a classic writing of psychology it

has been largely overlooked since being published in 1916 . This paper will be an attempt

to explain Holts view of the wish, and how this idea has profound implications of how

psychology is studied, and how it is viewed by the scientific community.

Freud's definition and Holts ascertation of the wish are one in the same. Holt

specifically writes to show that he believes that his ideas are the same as Freud's as he

truly respects Freud's attempt at explaining the mind. Freud's idea of the wish is that it is

any kind of aspiration to carry out an action. Simply said it is a want to do something.

Freud uses his theory of psychoanalysis to define these wishes in terms of unconscious

thought that can only be viewed through introspection, or the science of peering into the

mind. It is at this point that Holt deviates from Freud's ideas and implements his own

tactics for viewing the wish, and ultimately consciousness. Holt shows that the definition

that the wish holds the key to how the mind should be properly studied. In order for a

wish to be carried out it must be translated into an action and any action is merely being

conscious of the environment and interacting with it. Holt holds a firm belief that all

wishes are shown physically in some way. He admits that sometimes the action that

results from a wish is not always seen, but it is there. So no matter how small or

seemingly unimportant, all forms of behavior are results of wishes being carried out.
What this means is that in order to see consciousness a psychologist needs only to look

how a person interacts with his enviorment.

This belief can produce four different situations. The first is that a person is

conscious of something, and as a result they produce a behavior related to their wish.

This is how the consciousness can be viewed, by viewing the corresponding action which

was in response to a persons consciousness of something. The second is that a person is

conscious of something, but produces no related behavior. To Holt this situation is not

possible because every single instance of consciousness produces behavior. A person

cannot be conscious of something in his environment and not react to it. The third is that

a person is not conscious of something, but produces a behavior anyways. This is also not

possible due to the fact that behavior requires there to be consciousness to control it.

Fourth and finally is that there is no consciousness and no behavior. This simply means

that a person is not conscious with a part of his environment and does not respond to it.

This idea that the consciousness can be viewed is extremely important for

psychology. An inherent problem with studying the mind is that it can not be readily

viewed. There is no empirical data that can be gathered on consciousness, or thoughts.

Throughout the entire history of psychology scientists have tried to solve this problem.

To this day many people do not view psychology a science because of the existence of

theories that try to merely understand abstract ideas such as consciousness, and

awareness without any way to measure them. Freud's attempt was the method of

introspection where a person would psychoanalyze another’s mind and gain knowledge

to his thoughts. This method and all others like it have proved to be unreliable and in

some cases more destructive than helpful in helping people with mental diseases. What
Holts strategy suggests is that in order to see person’s thoughts, one only has to watch

how he interacts with his surroundings. Behavior is something that can be seen,

measured, and duplicated, and according to Holt our behavior gives us insight to these

abstract ideas of the mind. As an early behaviorist, Holt strongly believed that in order to

study the mind, a person only needed to focus on behavior.

Holt uses an example of a fish to enhance his argument. The fish has two spots

located opposite of each other on the front of the fish. Each spot is also connected by a

nerve to a fin on the opposing side. So the left spot is connected to a fin on the right and

vice versa. When light strikes one of these spots it causes its corresponding fin to move,

consequently rotating the fish in the direction of the light. So what happens is when light

strikes one of the eyespots the fish turns until both spots are hit with light, triggering both

spots, causing it to move toward the light. In this example the fishes wish is to move

toward the light. Holt says that if you were to introspect, dissect or do any manner of

looking in to the fish you would know that the nerves connect to the fins, but not the

reason why. A person only needs to watch the behavior of the fish to find out that it

wishes to move toward the light

So to peer in to a person’s consciousness and view his wishes you need only to

watch him. There is no need to understand consciousness beyond the behavior it creates

because they are the same. This even applies to your own behavior. If you want to know

what you are truly thinking then study your own behavior. Our thoughts betray us

constantly, because we have biased, and un-real views of ourselves. Holt argues that

because all wishes are translated into some sort of action then our behavior tells the truth

of our thoughts even if we are unaware of it or if we want to hide our true feelings. A
person’s actions will always betray their true thoughts. For example it has been proven

that when people lie, their eye movements change, and in fact a process of interrogation

that can detect lies successfully has been designed solely on this idea.

This is very important for psychology because it shows that the mind can be

studied, but it can also explain mental illness and suggest a better way of treating those

afflicted by problems of their mind. Freud points out that not all wishes are compatible.

For example if you were to have a short time before a test, but were tired, the wish to take

a nap, and the wish to do well on the test cannot both be realized. If you take the nap, you

lose the chance to study, and if you study you loose the chance to sleep. When one wish

is fulfilled over another the lesser wish is suppressed, but the suppressed wish does not go

away. Holt shows that how a person reacts in a situation where a wish is suppressed can

affect their mental health dramatically.

There are four situations that can occur when a person has two conflicting wishes.

To explain this I will use the nap and study example. One situation is that the person

decides to take the nap, and not study. In this case the wish to study is suppressed and not

carried out, but because it still exists and must be released in some way the person will

show behavior consistent with guilt or regret. The second option is that the person

suppresses the wish to sleep and decides to study, but because the wish to sleep was not

fulfilled, the person will be tired. The next option is that the person can nap and study in

the short time before the test. This option is worst of all because neither wish is fulfilled

and the person ends up tired, regretful, and guilty. There is only one way to fulfill both

wishes and this is compromise. Compromise is not easily accessible though, because in

order for a person to make a sound decision that does not suppress either wish he has to
know how. Holt shows that compromise is brought about by knowing information about

your wishes. If you don’t know how to find compromise then you will pick one of the

first three options. An example of compromise for this example would be knowing that

coffee will wake you up, so you study and take a nap later. In this example both wishes

are fulfilled.

Every time a person suppresses a whish, a disassociation occurs. This is Holts

explanation for mental instabilities. Remember that an unfulfilled wish is still translated

into action in some way, and because it is unfulfilled a person is in a constant struggle to

fulfill it. As a result the actions associated with the suppressed wishes continue on which

can cause a myriad of problems. This suggests that there may be a very effective way of

treating such ailments. A wish and its actions are the same, and an action is

consciousness of the environment. When thought about this way, Mental illness can be

defined as unusual behavior, which is caused by a disruption of normal consciousness.

Then to treat a mental illness or problems of consciousness which will in turn change the

unwanted behavior. In other words a psychologists needs to deal with the suppressed

wishes. In order to accomplish this, according to Holt a psychologist needs to change the

environment to suit their patient’s consciousness. I believe that types of therapy derived

from this view would not only be more successful, but will also make less mistakes with

diagnosis.

Holt feels so strongly in this theory that he goes as far to point out that if you view

his ideas of the wish to be false, then you are only lying to yourself. This is quite a bold

statement, but one backed with a logical argument that is hard to refute. It is true that

behavior shows all, and I believe that Holts ideas could very well fix many problems
associated with psychology today. No longer could anyone claim that the mind is

inaccessible. This quite literally puts consciousness within grasp. Holt’s theory is of

course not perfect, and it has its fallacies like every theory, but if used correctly then it

has the potential to greatly benefit psychologists. Holt’s theory of the wish may very well

be that buried treasure within psychology that only needs to be dug out by a few

dedicated professors in order for it to be realized.