Psychoanalysis in Focus

by David Livingstone Smith

Psychoanalysis in Question is a much-needed introduction to the major criticisms of psychoanalysis as a theory and as a practice. Psychoanalysis in Question encourages psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and counsellors to adopt a more balanced view of their own discipline and aims to help students engage in critical debate during their training. David Livingstone Smith, outlining the main criticisms from outside the world of psychotherapy, explores the contentions of philosophers such as Karl Popper and Adolf Grunbaum. He assesses the scientific credibility of psychoanalysis, explaining the difficulty in obtaining evidence, using the experimental methods of research favored by the scientific community. Against this he sets the opposing view that psychoanalysis is not and should not strive to be a science and highlights the philosophical and ethical shortcomings, which accompany this view. Psychoanalysis in Question also examines the contemporary issues facing practitioners and the validity of key psychoanalytic concepts such as the unconscious, free association, transference and counter-transference.The future of psychoanalysis depends on the ability of practitioners to analyze its flaws and to answer its critics. Providing a highly readable Psychoanalysis in Question is an accessible introduction, which will help trainees, and practitioners grasp the key debates.

168 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 18, 2001

About the author

David Livingstone Smith is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of London, Kings College, where he worked on Freud's philosophy of mind and psychology. His current research is focused on dehumanization, race, propaganda, and related topics. David is the author of seven books and numerous academic papers. His most recent book Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave and Exterminate Others (St. Martin's Press, 2011) was awarded the 2012 Anisfield-Wolf award for nonfiction. He is also editor of How Biology Shapes Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2016) , and he is working on a book entitled Making Monsters: The Uncanny Power of Dehumanization, which will be published by Harvard University Press.

David speaks widely in both academic and nonacademic settings, and his work has been featured extensively in national and international media. In 2012 he spoke at the G20 summit on dehumanization and mass violence. David strongly believes that the practice of philosophy has an important role to play helping us meet the challenges confronting humanity in the 21st century and beyond, and that philosophers should work towards making the world a better place.g