Etiology and ontology of psychoanalysis

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I am doing some research on the etiology and ontology of psychoanalysis and am having a hard time gathering the information. Most available info. is about Freud and forms of psychoanalysis, but I'd like to learn more about what are its assumptions about the human person and what its methodology is. Any clarification would be wonderful, thanks!

-- C.A. Leemhuis (TL111678@aol.com), April 20, 2001

Answers

By "etiology" here I assume you mean its origins? How it came into being? For basic informration about Freud's early intellectual development, look first at the psychoanalysis chapter of any good history of psychology textbook. For more specialized information, you might have a look a Ellenberger's influential _The Discovery of the Unconscious_, as well as at the best of the many biographies of Freud: e.g., Ernest Jones', Peter Gay's, Frank Sulloway's, Ray Fancher's. The ontology of psychoanalysis is a far trickier question. There have been many attempts to interpret, anlayze, and criticize the underlying ontology, first and foremost Freud's own (psychic energy, psychical structure, etc.). One particularly influential critical book here is Adolf Grunbaum's _Foundations of Psychoanalysis_, but there are many others.

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), April 21, 2001.

Hi C.A., etiology here may prove as difficult to pin down as etiology of any disease, but look at Pioneers of Psychology by R. Fancher, specifically chapter 11, Mind in Conflict. This will expedite your inquiry as much as anything you can do. Assumptions are developmental and mechanistic. Methodology is dependent upon what you mean, Freud's methodology in developing a theory of personality or the method psychoanalysis takes towards someone in distress? Best, David

-- david clark (doclark@yorku.ca), April 21, 2001.

Check Henri Ellenberger's The Discovery of the Unconscious: The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry (Basic Books, 1970). It's the definitive source, I think.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@fuller.edu), April 21, 2001.

At the risk of self promotion... for a brief review of & bibliography on the several types of formative influences on Freud, see chapter 2 in Mackay, N. (1989), "Motivation & Explanation: An Essay on Freud's Philosophy of Science" Psychological Issues Monograph 56, International Univerisities Press.

-- Nigel Mackay (nigel_mackay@uow.edu.au), April 22, 2001.

An excellent exposition and, at the same time, critical analysis of Freud's use of theories and findings in the biology, neuroanatomy, anthropology, psychiatry and other disciplines of his time is Patricia Kitcher's "Freud's Dream" (1990).

-- Thomas Sturm (sturm@bbaw.de), August 09, 2001.


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