The Problem of the Unconscious in the Psychological Concept of Set

In the pages of the three-volume anthology The unconscious: Its nature, function, and methods of investigation (Tbilisi, 1978), the following incorrect positions are presented concerning the relationship between the concept of set and the problem of the unconscious: (1) the unconscious is real only as a form of existence of physiological processes; (2) the unconscious is a category whose use is incompatible with dialectical materialist methodology in psychology; and (3) the identity of the concept of set (in D. N. Uznadze's conception) with the psychological concept of the unconscious makes the concept of set superfluous for psychology as an explanatory science (see [3. Vol. 1, p. 74]). Let us examine some aspects of these postulates.