Psychoanalytic peregrinations. II: Psychoanalysis as science and art.

Abstract

The foundations of psychoanalytic clinical practice involve the role of fantasy, creativity, and imagination as well as the natural science aspects of psychoanalysis. There is a common ground for psychoanalytic technique and we should not in a "politically correct" manner, as is so popular today, abandon the philosophical or Platonic foundationalism that lies at the basis of Freud's psychoanalytic practices. Although it is a "politically incorrect" view, a reasonable degree of objectivity and scientific validity is attainable by the relatively neutral psychoanalyst, using both natural science observations as well as introspection and hermeneutics. Furthermore, since psychoanalysis is fundamentally a creative activity, the roots of creativity require exploration and careful study. Subjective and first person methodologies such as Freud's psychoanalysis and phenomenology cannot be ignored in our search for the core of the self of each of our patients.