The Foundations of Psychoanalysis: A Philosophical Critique (Pittsburgh Series in Philosophy and History of Science)

This study is a philosophical critique of the foundations of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis. As such, it also takes cognizance of his claim that psychoanalysis has the credentials of a natural science. It shows that the reasoning on which Freud rested the major hypotheses of his edifice was fundamentally flawed, even if the probity of the clinical observations he adduced were not in question. Moreover, far from deserving to be taken at face value, clinical data from the psychoanalytic treatment setting are themselves epistemically quite suspect. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Critique Of The Hermeneutic Conception Of Psychoanalytic Theory And Therapy Part I. The Clinical Method Of Psychoanalytic Investigation: Pathfinder Or Pitfall? 95 1. Is Freud's Theory Empirically Testable? 2. Did Freud Vindicate His Method Of Clinical Investigation? Part II. The Cornerstone Of The Psychoanalytic Edifice: Is The Freudian Theory Of Repression Well Founded? Introduction 3. Appraisal Of Freud's Arguments For The Repression Etiology Of The Psychoneuroses 4. Examination Of The Psychoanalytic Theory Of Slips—Of Memory, The Tongue, Ear, And Pen 5. Repressed Infantile Wishes As Instigators Of All Dreams: Critical Scrutiny Of The Compromise Model Of Manifest Dream Content 6. Appraisal Of Freud's Further Arguments For The Emergence Of Unadulterated Repressions Under "Free" Association 7. Remarks On Post-Freudian Defenses Of The Fundamental Tenets Of Psychoanalysis 8. Can The Repression Etiology Of Psychoneurosis Be Tested Retrospectively? Part III. Epilogue 9. The Method Of Free Association And The Future Appraisal Of Psychoanalysis 10. Critique Of Freud's Final Defense Of The Probative Value Of Data From The Couch: The Pseudo-Convergence Of Clinical Findings 11. Coda On Exegetical Myth-Making In Karl Popper's Indictment Of The Clinical Validation Of Psychoanalysis Bibliography Indexes Name Index Subject Index Offers a systematic analysis of Freud's theories, examines the effectiveness of the retrospective clinical methods used in psychoanalysis, and discusses free association, dreams, and personality