The Freud Wars: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Psychoanalysis

by Lavinia Gomez

The Freud Wars offers a comprehensive introduction to the crucial question of the justification of psychoanalysis. Part I examines three powerful critiques of psychoanalysis in the context of a recent controversy about its nature and is it a bankrupt science, an innovative science, or not a science at all but a system of interpretation? The discussion makes sense of the entrenched disagreement about the validity of psychoanalysis, and demonstrates how the disagreement is rooted in the theoretical ambiguity of the central concept of psychoanalysis, the unconscious. This ambiguity is then presented as the pathway to a new way of understanding psychoanalysis, based on a mode of thinking that precedes division into mental and physical. The reader is drawn into a lively and thought-provoking analysis of the central • what would it mean for psychoanalysis to count as a science?
• is psychoanalysis a form of hermeneutics?
• how can mental and physical explanations coincide? Part II contains the source material for Part the influential critiques of psychoanalysis by Adolf Grünbaum, Thomas Nagel and Jürgen Habermas. No specialised knowledge is assumed, and the book is clear and accessible while still conveying the complexity and richness of the subject. It provides a fascinating introduction to philosophical thinking on psychoanalysis for students and practitioners of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and philosophy.

220 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2005

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A PSYCHOTHERAPIST LOOKS INTO THE FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHANALYSIS

Lavinia Gomez is a psychotherapist in private practice in London; she has also written 'An Introduction to Object Relations.' She wrote in the Preface to this 2005 book, "the foundation and legitimation of psychoanalytic thinking are far from resolved; but this is more than a professional or academic concern It speaks to all of us who assume as private individuals that understanding ourselves and others means going deeper than ordinary consciousness can show...

"[My] intention is to make a specialized field accessible, without oversimplification and without denuding it of its complexity and depth... Psychoanalysis has its own distinct slant on these fundamental philosophical concerns. I hope to communicate the excitement and illumination of bringing these two powerful modes of enquiry together to enhance and extend our professional and everyday thinking and understanding." (Pg. vii-viii)

She observes, "'The Freud Wars' was launched by an uncompromising personal and theoretical attack by a professor of literature and formerly sympathetic proponent of psychoanalysis who had gone on to become its unrelenting critic. Frederick Crews' 'The Unknown Freud' [reprinted in 'The Memory Wars']... condemns the whole edifice of psychoanalysis as a vast confidence trick played on suggestible patients and an unwary public by an unscrupulous and self-seeking psychoanalytic establishment.

"The documentary evidence makes clear, he maintains, that the observations on which psychoanalysis is based are mostly fabrications, cynically constructed out of Freud's insatiable craving for recognition as a scientific celebrity. Psychoanalysis, as Crews sees it, is at best a bankrupt science and at worst a counterfeit science... Crews' objections to psychoanalysis' claim to scientific status are drawn largely from [Adolf] Grünbaum's work ['The Foundations of Psychoanalysis']." (Pg. 6)

She notes, "It will come as no surprise to hear that 'The Freud Wars' were neither won nor lost. Inside and outside the psychoanalytic world, psychoanalysis continues to be viewed in line with the different verdicts reached, with little discussion and scarcely a hint of resolution. Essential psychoanalytic concepts from the 'unconscious' to the 'ego' have entered into ordinary language, suggesting an informed endorsement, but adjacent disciplines such as psychiatry and psychology typically treat it as little more than an old-fashioned conjecture. Even within psychoanalysis itself... there is no consensus on where its authority lies: practitioners and theorists are divided as to whether its ideas are scientific or interpretative by nature. There are thus two questions for this enquiry to consider. Can psychoanalysis be justified at all? And should its acceptance or rejection depend on scientific or hermeneutical principles of knowledge?" (Pg. 8)

She states that "Against his best intentions, Grünbaum's critique makes clear that psychoanalysis cannot fit comfortably into the contours of an orthodox natural science, but in attempting to force it into such a structure he distorts it to such an extent that his conclusions are undermined." (Pg. 33)
About Thomas Nagel's defense of psychoanalysis, she notes, "All that Nagel's expanded review can tell us for sure is that Grünbaum was right: whatever else may vindicate psychoanalysis, the principles of mainstream empirical science cannot do so... Nagel's arguments establish that in spite of Grünbaum's doubts, the (relative) permanence of the Freudian revolution suggests strongly that the basic concepts of psychoanalysis must be founded on something more than a series of lucky breaks. But it is through the 'cultural criterion' that Nagel persuades us of this, rather than through his account of psychoanalysis as an empirical science." (Pg. 53)

She summarizes, "Where does this leave psychoanalysis? ... From conventional perspectives, it has no easy classification. Marooned between the two theoretical hemispheres, it combines the practical immediacy of hermeneutics with the accent on substantive conclusions of empirical science. On Freud's explicit foundations, psychoanalysis appears a maverick subject; but when these foundations are developed, its very ambidextrousness brings its critical edge to the fore. Psychoanalysis then gravitates most naturally towards other branches of enquiry in which critique takes precedence over dogma. Perpetually hovering between the practical and the theoretical, the hermeneutic and the empirical, it challenges our ingrained theoretical habits as much as our customary views of ourselves." (Pg. 104)

This book will interest those studying the "foundational" principles of psychoanalysis.

[Lewis White · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is written fairly lucidly and is structured very coherently so it is always clear what the author is saying, both when criticising the target articles and when offering her own contribution. This is a godsend, and so rare in academic books (and indeed contrary to the obfuscating articles she is focussing on).

However, I was left wanting to encourage the author to go away and read up on more philosophy. Some very interesting, and, as my understanding of the current consensus within philosophy goes, very radical suggestions are made; without a better engagement with some of the prominent academics who have written on the subject however, such points are all too easily dismissed as facile.

For instance, whilst I also don't have the philisophical background to be certain of my answers, I can respond to her main assertions with ease. Gomez suggests that throughout the Freud Wars the question was begged as to what the connection between physical and mental realms of life might be, and as such both Habermas, Grunbaum and Nagel's conceptions of psychoanalysis were inadequate. If one rejects ontological dualism, this complaint is simply rendered irrelevant; one can reject ontological dualisms fairly simply with monist materialism, functional isomorphism and discursive relativism.