Although much of the recent psychoanalytic literature seems to assume that affects can be unconscious, there is a sizable body of opinion to the contrary. Freud's specific statement that 'It is surely of the essence of an emotion that we should be aware of it …' was apparently based not only on theoretical grounds but on the intuitive equation of feeling and awareness which arises from our everyday use of the terms. Using the term 'unconscious' in its dynamic sense, I have presented evidence that affects can exist as active processes with effects upon both motor and psychic behaviour, and yet be outside of the awareness of the individual and incapable of being brought into awareness by ordinary efforts of attention. It appears, that is, that affects can be unconscious.