Epistemological subjectivism has found its way into psychoanalysis along several theoretical and clinical paths. It has developed out of the clinical interest in transference and countertransference and, in particular, from the broadly generalized definition of countertransference now popular. The clinically necessary attention to analyst-analysand interaction has been turned into interactionism or intersubjectivism and a denial of epistemological subject-object differentiation.These perspectives transform a clinical focus on the here and now of the analytic relation into the determination of the past by the present and a teleological reversal of causality. Once this reversal is made, narrative in the analytic situation becomes the co-creation of the analysand's past by the present analyst-analysand relation. Psychoanalysis, on this view, can at best substitute a coherent, novelistic account for the life history of a person. Some of the problems of subjectivism are examined here with a view to restoring to psychoanalysis the epistemology of science and common sense.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Berkeley, G.(1710). The principles of human knowledge. In Berkeley, ed. M.W. Calkins. New York : Scribner, 1929, pp. 99—216.
2.
Bion, W. (1967). Notes on memory and desire. Psychoanalytic Forum2:272—273.
3.
——— (1988). Attention and Interpretation. London: Karnac.
4.
Boesky, D. (1990). The psychoanalytic process and its components . Psychoanalytic Quarterly59:550—584.
5.
Brenner, C. (1970). On method in psychoanalysis. In Psychoanalysis and Philosophy, ed. C. Hanly & M. Lazerowitz.New York: International Universities Press.
6.
Chused, J. (1992). The patient's perception of the analyst: The hidden transference, Psychoanalytic Quarterly61:161—184.
7.
——— & Raphling, D. (1992). The analyst's mistakes. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association40:89—116.
8.
Descartes, R. (1641). Meditations on first philosophy. In Philosophical Works of Descartes, Vol. 1, transl. E.S. Haldane & G.R.T. Ross. New York: Dover, 1955, pp. 133—199.
9.
Etchegoyen, H. (1994). Validation in the clinical process. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, West Point Supplement, 83—92.
10.
Freud, S. (1916). Introductory lectures on psycho-analysis. Standard Edition15/16.
11.
——— (1918). From the history of an infantile neurosis. Standard Edition17:7—124.
12.
——— (1923a). The ego and the id. Standard Edition19:13—66.
13.
——— (1923b). Two encyclopaedia articles. Standard Edition18:235—259.
14.
——— (1933). New introductory lectures on psycho-analysis. Standard Edition22:5—182.
15.
Gill, M. (1983). The interpersonal paradigm and the degree of the therapist's involvement. Contemporary Psychoanalysis19:200—237.
16.
Green, A. (1986). On Private Madness. London : Hogarth Press.
17.
Grossman, L. (1996). The analyst's influence. Psychoanalytic Quarterly65:81—692.
18.
Grünbaum, A. (1984). The Foundations of Psychoanalysis. Berkeley: University of California Press.
19.
——— (1993). Validation in the Clinical Process. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.
20.
Hanly, C. (1992). The Problem of Truth in Applied Psychoanalysis . New York: Guilford Press.
21.
Hanly, M.A.F. (1996). `Narrative', now and then: A critical realist approach. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis77:445—457.
22.
Hawking, S. (1990). A Brief History of TimeToronto : Bantam Books.
23.
Hoffman, I. (1994). Dialectical thinking and therapeutic action in psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Quarterly63:187—218.
24.
Jacobs, T. (1993). The inner experiences of the analyst: Their contribution to the analytic process. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis74:7—14.
25.
Kuhn, T. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
26.
Latour, B. (1979). Laboratory Life: The Social Construction of Scientific Facts. Beverly Hills: Sage.
27.
Marchevsky, N. (1993). Considerations on the aims of interpretation. In Psychoanalysis in Latin America, ed. M. Lemlij.Lima: Alexander Forsyth .
28.
Nagel, E. (1959). Methodological issues in psychoanalytic theory . In Psychoanalysis, Scientific Method and Philosophy, ed. S. Hook. New York: Grove Press, pp. 38—56.
29.
Owens, J. (1959). A History of Ancient Western Philosophy. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
30.
Poland, W. (1996). Melting the Darkness: The Dyad and Principles of Clinical Practice. Northvale, NJ: Aronson.
31.
Raphling, D. (1992). Some vicissitudes of aggression in the interpretive process. Psychoanalytic Quarterly61:352—369.
32.
Renik, O. (1992).Use of the analyst as a fetish. Psychoanalytic Quarterly61:542—563.
33.
——— (1993). Analytic interaction: Conceptualizing technique in light of the analyst's irreducible subjectivity. Psychoanalytic Quarterly62:553—571.
34.
——— (1996). Countertransference enactment and the psychoanalytic process. In Psychic Structure and Psychic Change: Essays in Honor of Robert Wallerstein, M.D, ed. M.J. Horowitz, O.F. Kernberg, & E.M. Weinshel.Madison, CT: International Universities Press, pp. 135—158.
35.
Schafer, R. (1978). Language and Insight. New Haven : Yale University Press.
36.
——— (1981). Narration in psychoanalytic dialogue. In On Narrative, ed. W.J.T. Mitchell. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 25—49.
37.
——— (1983). The Analytic Attitude. New York: Basic Books.
38.
——— (1992). Retelling a Life: Narration and Dialogue in Psychoanalysis . New York: Basic Books.
39.
Sokal, A. (1996). Transgressing the boundaries: Toward a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity. Social Text 46/47:217—252.
40.
Spence, D. (1982). Narrative Truth and Historical Truth: Meaning and Interpretation in Psychoanalysis. New York: Norton.
41.
Stolorow, R., & Atwood, G. (1992). Contexts of Being: The Intersubjective Roots of Psychological Life. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
42.
Treurniet, N. (1997). On an ethic of psychoanalytic technique. Psychoanalytic Quarterly66:596—627.
43.
Urtubey, L. De (1994). Le travail de contre-transfert. Bulletin de la Société Psychanalytique de Paris31.
44.
Viderman, S. (1974). Interpretation in the analytic space. International Review of Psycho-Analsysis1:467—480.
45.
——— (1979). The analytic space: Meaning and problems. Psychoanalytic Quarterly48:257—291.
46.
Waldron, S. (1992). Slips of the analyst, Psychoanalytic Quarterly61:564—580.
47.
Weinberg, S. (1996). Sokal's hoax. New York Review of Books, August, pp. 11—15.
