Psychoanalysis as Applied Aesthetics

Bibliographic Data

ID9232134
AuthorsStephen H Richmond (Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California; a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles; and an adjunct faculty member at San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis., corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume85
Issue3
Pages589-631
Publication date2016-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Psychoanalytic Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0033-2828 • E-ISSN: 2167-4086
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/psaq.12087
PMID27428582
OpenAlexW2501897629
LanguageEN
References cited17

The question of how to place psychoanalysis in relation to science has been debated since the beginning of psychoanalysis and continues to this day. The author argues that psychoanalysis is best viewed as a form of applied art (also termed applied aesthetics) in parallel to medicine as applied science. This postulate draws on a functional definition of modernity as involving the differentiation of the value spheres of science, art, and religion. The validity criteria for each of the value spheres are discussed. Freud is examined, drawing on Habermas, and seen to have erred by claiming that the psychoanalytic method is a form of science. Implications for clinical and metapsychological issues in psychoanalysis are discussed

Aesthetics · Epistemology · Modernity · Psychoanalysis · Psychoanalytic theory · Relation (database) · Sociology · Value (mathematics) · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications