noun, masc., pure psychic automatism by which it is intended to express, either verbally or in writing, the true function of thought. thought dedicated in the absence of all control exerted by reason, and outside all aesthetic or moral preoccupations.

ENCYL. philos. surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of association heretofore neglected, in the omnipotence of the dream, and in the disinterested play of thought. it leads to the permanent destruction of all other psychic mechanisms and to its substitution for them in the solution of the principal problems of life.