Psychoanalysis as a Human Science: Beyond Foundationalism

"The authors are successful in clearing away the foundationalist criticisms against Freudian psychoanalysis.... This book is a technical treatise based on systematic and intensive study of the relevant literature upto the most recent date. It merits the attention of international scholars in the field." --The Hindu Psychoanalysis as a Human Science examines the epistemological and ethical foundations of the science of psychoanalysis. It demonstrates that psychoanalysis is a humane science and rejects both humanistic and empiricistic constructions of the theory as "foundationalist," or based on narrow conceptions of science and knowledge. As an alternative, the authors provide psychoanalysis with a philosophical foundation that they term "cognitivist." Their formulation encompasses the epistemological, normative dimension; the psychological, cognitive dimension; and the social, consensual dimension. The formal and empirical nature of psychoanalysis, recent theoretical and empirical thinking within the discipline, and the logic of its discovery and methodological evolution are also discussed.