As Sigmund Freud, Pierre Janet, and others realized in the late nineteenth century, much of what goes on in our head is inaccessible to our mind—is not conscious. Indeed, when we introspect, we routinely deceive ourselves, because we only tap into a minute fraction of what is going on in our head. This deception is why so much of philosophy about the self, the will, and other aspects of our mind has been barren for more than two thousand years. Yet, as I shall describe, the unconscious can profoundly influence our behavior. I also dwell on the related problem of free will, the feeling of
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