书名: Wittgenstein Reads Freud: The Myth of the Unconscious
作者: Jacques Bouveresse (Author)
出版社: Princeton University Press (May 15, 1995)
语言: English
ISBN-10: 0691034257
ISBN-13: 978-0691034256
Book Description
Did Freud present a scientific hypothesis about the unconscious, as he always maintained and as many of his disciples keep repeating? This question has long prompted debates concerning the legitimacy and usefulness of psychoanalysis, and it is of utmost importance to Lacanian analysts, whose main project has been to stress Freud's scientific grounding. Here Jacques Bouveresse, a noted authority on Ludwig Wittgenstein, contributes to the debate by turning to this Austrian-born philosopher and contemporary of Freud for a candid assessment of the early issues surrounding psychoanalysis. Wittgenstein, who himself had delivered a devastating critique of traditional philosophy, sympathetically pondered Freud's claim to have produced a scientific theory in proposing a new model of the human psyche. What Wittgenstein recognized--and what Bouveresse so eloquently stresses for today's reader--is that psychoanalysis does not aim to produce a change limited to the intellect but rather seeks to provoke an authentic change of human attitudes. The beauty behind the theory of the unconscious for Wittgenstein is that it breaks away from scientific, causal explanations to offer new forms of thinking and speaking, or rather, a new mythology.
Offering a critical view of all the texts in which Wittgenstein mentions Freud, Bouveresse immerses us in the intellectual climate of Vienna in the early part of the twentieth century. Although we come to see why Wittgenstein did not view psychoanalysis as a science proper, we are nonetheless made to feel the philosopher's sense of wonder and respect for the cultural task Freud took on as he found new ways meaningfully to discuss human concerns. Intertwined in this story of Wittgenstein's grappling with the theory of the unconscious is the story of how he came to question the authority of science and of philosophy itself. While aiming primarily at the clarification of Wittgenstein's opinion of Freud, Bouveresse's book can be read as a challenge to the French psychoanalytic school of Lacan and as a provocative commentary on cultural authority.
Review
"... [a] lucid and balanced book ..." -- Richard Rorty, New York Times
"Bouveresse's perceptive and illuminating study of Wittgenstein on Freud ... is very welcome not just as an immensely readable account of two of the century's most important thinkers, but because it throws light also on the intellectual debate in France, where there has been a lively quarrel between psychoanalysis and philosophy." -- A. C. Grayling, The London Financial Times
"Wittgenstein saw psychoanalysis as a myth masquerading as science, acquiring dangerous persuasive powers from the confusion. Bouveresse, a much-published professor at the College de France, notes that Wittgenstein did not object to myths or for that matter to persuasive discourse; he thought that philosophy by its nature is persuasive. But for him psychoanalysis confused the categories, which is precisely where the dangers lie; it could not be a science because not all mental events have causes, much less the "necessary meanings" that Freudians assign them. Bouveresse admits that Wittgenstein was not consistent (he once said that Freud could claim "extraordinary scientific achievements"). But Wittgenstein generally feared schemes that drew people into preordained mindsets and was deeply suspicious of attempts to build science itself into a mind-controlling ideology. Bouveresse's book, unfortunately, manages only in the last chapter to confront the questions of morality and persuasion that concerned Wittgenstein. But it does expose the major issues, and the translation is clear. For general readers with a taste for scholarly infighting and niggles." -- Leslie Armour & Suzie Johnston, Univ. of Ottawa, Library Journal
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作者: Jacques Bouveresse (Author)
出版社: Princeton University Press (May 15, 1995)
语言: English
ISBN-10: 0691034257
ISBN-13: 978-0691034256
Book Description
Did Freud present a scientific hypothesis about the unconscious, as he always maintained and as many of his disciples keep repeating? This question has long prompted debates concerning the legitimacy and usefulness of psychoanalysis, and it is of utmost importance to Lacanian analysts, whose main project has been to stress Freud's scientific grounding. Here Jacques Bouveresse, a noted authority on Ludwig Wittgenstein, contributes to the debate by turning to this Austrian-born philosopher and contemporary of Freud for a candid assessment of the early issues surrounding psychoanalysis. Wittgenstein, who himself had delivered a devastating critique of traditional philosophy, sympathetically pondered Freud's claim to have produced a scientific theory in proposing a new model of the human psyche. What Wittgenstein recognized--and what Bouveresse so eloquently stresses for today's reader--is that psychoanalysis does not aim to produce a change limited to the intellect but rather seeks to provoke an authentic change of human attitudes. The beauty behind the theory of the unconscious for Wittgenstein is that it breaks away from scientific, causal explanations to offer new forms of thinking and speaking, or rather, a new mythology.
Offering a critical view of all the texts in which Wittgenstein mentions Freud, Bouveresse immerses us in the intellectual climate of Vienna in the early part of the twentieth century. Although we come to see why Wittgenstein did not view psychoanalysis as a science proper, we are nonetheless made to feel the philosopher's sense of wonder and respect for the cultural task Freud took on as he found new ways meaningfully to discuss human concerns. Intertwined in this story of Wittgenstein's grappling with the theory of the unconscious is the story of how he came to question the authority of science and of philosophy itself. While aiming primarily at the clarification of Wittgenstein's opinion of Freud, Bouveresse's book can be read as a challenge to the French psychoanalytic school of Lacan and as a provocative commentary on cultural authority.
Review
"... [a] lucid and balanced book ..." -- Richard Rorty, New York Times
"Bouveresse's perceptive and illuminating study of Wittgenstein on Freud ... is very welcome not just as an immensely readable account of two of the century's most important thinkers, but because it throws light also on the intellectual debate in France, where there has been a lively quarrel between psychoanalysis and philosophy." -- A. C. Grayling, The London Financial Times
"Wittgenstein saw psychoanalysis as a myth masquerading as science, acquiring dangerous persuasive powers from the confusion. Bouveresse, a much-published professor at the College de France, notes that Wittgenstein did not object to myths or for that matter to persuasive discourse; he thought that philosophy by its nature is persuasive. But for him psychoanalysis confused the categories, which is precisely where the dangers lie; it could not be a science because not all mental events have causes, much less the "necessary meanings" that Freudians assign them. Bouveresse admits that Wittgenstein was not consistent (he once said that Freud could claim "extraordinary scientific achievements"). But Wittgenstein generally feared schemes that drew people into preordained mindsets and was deeply suspicious of attempts to build science itself into a mind-controlling ideology. Bouveresse's book, unfortunately, manages only in the last chapter to confront the questions of morality and persuasion that concerned Wittgenstein. But it does expose the major issues, and the translation is clear. For general readers with a taste for scholarly infighting and niggles." -- Leslie Armour & Suzie Johnston, Univ. of Ottawa, Library Journal
[thread=15047]论坛相关讨论主题[/thread]
