Journal Article

Critique and Cure: A Dream of Uniting Psychoanalysis and Philosophy

Webster, Jamieson

2013

Overview

Critical theory, whose aim was to historicize philosophy through integrating it with the social sciences, turned to psychoanalysis to find its way through an accounting of philosophy after the Second World War. Over 50 years after this initial project, the rift between philosophy and psychoanalysis has never been greater. If Jacques Lacan could be considered one of the few psychoanalysts to maintain and foster links to philosophical thought in the latter half of the 20th century, his work has sadly remained marginal in the clinical field throughout America and Europe. Both critical theory and Lacan remain skeptical of the direction taken by psychoanalysis after Freud. Reflecting on the history of these two disciplines, as well as through an examination of Theodor Adorno's posthumously published dream journal, critique and cure emerge as two dialectically intertwined themes that gain momentum in the dream of the unification of the philosophical and psychoanalytic projects.

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK,Palgrave Macmillan
• Subject: 20th century / Behavioral Science and Psychology / Biological and medical sciences / Clinical Psychology / Critical theory / Cure / Dreams / Esthetics / Failure / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / History, 20th Century / Humans / Philosophers / Philosophy / Philosophy - history / Post World War II period / Posthumous works / Psychoanalysis / Psychoanalysis - history / Psychoanalysts / Psychoanalytic theories / Psychoanalytic Theory / Psychology / Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry / Psychotherapy / Science / Social sciences / Theory / Traditions / World War II