If we are to understand why psychoanalysis extends ordinary psychology in the precise ways that it does, we must take account of the existence of, and the interplay between, two distinct kinds of explanatory concern: functional and idiographic. The form and content of psychoanalytic explanation and its unusual methodology can, at least in part, be viewed as emerging out of Freud's attempt to reconcile these two types of explanatory concern. We must also acknowledge the role of the background theoretical context (...) that shapes Freud's functional thinking about the mind. A neglect of the role of the background theory in shaping the extension of ordinary psychology leaves us with puzzles about the nature and direction of the psychoanalytic extension and gives rise to an unbelievable history of psychoanalysis. (shrink)

If we are to understand why psychoanalysis extends ordinary psychology in the precise ways that it does, we must take account of the existence of, and the interplay between, two distinct kinds of explanatory concern: functional and idiographic. The form and content of psychoanalytic explanation and its unusual methodology can, at least in part, be viewed as emerging out of Freud's attempt to reconcile these two types of explanatory concern. We must also acknowledge the role of the background theoretical context (...) that shapes Freud's functional thinking about the mind. A neglect of the role of the background theory in shaping the extension of ordinary psychology leaves us with puzzles about the nature and direction of the psychoanalytic extension and gives rise to an unbelievable history of psychoanalysis. (shrink)

The ArgumentDespite the enormous historical attention psychoanalysis has attracted, its popularization in Britain (as opposed to the United States) in the wake of the Great War has been largely overlooked. The present paper explores the sources and fate of the sudden “craze” for psychoanalysis after 1918, examining the content of the books through which the doctrine became widely known, along with the roles played by religious interests and the popular press. The percolation of Freudian and related language into everyday English (...) was effectively complete by the 1930s. Crucially, it is argued that in Britain the character of psychoanalytic theory itself demonstrably converged with the psychological needs of the British population in the postwar period. The situation in Britain was clearly different in many respects from that in the United States. This episode bears on numerous questions about scientific popularization, the distinctiveness of British psychoanalysis, and though it is treated here only peripherally the epistemological status or nature of psychoanalysis. More generally the present paper may be read as an exercise in reflexive disciplinary historiography, in which the levels of discipline (“Psychology”) and subject matter (“psychology”) are viewed as interpenetrating and mutually constitutive. (shrink)

Im Zentrum der aus triebtheoretischer Perspektive erweiterten Theorie des Ödipuskomplexes von Judith Le Soldat steht das Konzept der aktiven Kastrationstat, die im Verlauf der ödipalen Entwicklung von Jungen wie Mädchen aufgrund der Versagung der passiven und aktiven phallischen Triebwünsche und des dadurch bewirkten aggressiven Triebdurchbruchs imaginär begangen wird. Diese ubiquitäre Kastrationstat führt zu Schuld, Kastrations- und Vernichtungsängsten, gegen die charakteristische Abwehrlösungen gefunden werden müssen, die ihrerseits wieder zu Ausweglosigkeiten in der inneren Welt führen. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, diese Trieb- (...) und Abwehrbewegungen und die aus ihnen resultierenden unbewussten Phantasien zu untersuchen, mit einem klinischen Beispiel zu illustrieren und das klinisch und theoretisch fruchtbare Potenzial der theoretischen Erweiterungen von Le Soldat aufzuzeigen. (shrink)