Gardner, Sebastian:
Psychoanalytic Theory : a Historical Reconstruction

In: Supplement to the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 86, 1/1 (2012), 41-60

Mention of Spinoza: s. Kommentar/commentary

Literature type: Articles
Language: English
Thematic areas: Epistemology / methodology / philosophy of mind, Anthropology / psychology / doctrine of affections / body and mind, Comparison of theories
Subject: E
Subject (individuals): Kant, Immanuel

English commentary: "In this paper I sketch a reconstruction of the basic psychoanalytic conception of the mind in terms of two historical resources: the conception of the subject developed in post-Kantian idealism, and Spinoza's laws of the affects in Part Three of the Ethics. The former, I suggest, supplies the conceptual basis for the psychoanalytic notion of the unconscious, while the latter defines the type of psychological causality of psychoanalytic explanations. The imperfect fit between these two elements, I claim, is reflected in familiar conceptual difficulties surrounding psychoanalytic theory and explanation." (abstract)

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