Reply to Panel Questions

  • Tensions between modernism and postmodernism in psychoanalytic theory and practice are evident in the allegedly >postmodern< view of subjectivity as not unified but plural. Suggesting that a thoroughgoing postmodern clinical practice does not exist at present, I distinguish between U. S. and European models of the postmodern multiple subject and between modern and postmodern varieties of pluralism in the current psychoanalytic theorization of subjectivity in this country, proposing that all such pluralist theories are in fact mixed models. I argue that these theories do not reflect objective, essential traits of selfhood but are complexly shaped by the cultural presuppositions and intrapsychic needs of the analyst hence attempts to theorize subjectivity with reference to science (including developmental schemas) are problematic. Because a thoroughgoing postmodern pluralism cannot accommodate such concepts as agency and authenticity or a coherent narrative of the treatment process, clinical psychoanalysis, at least at present, inevitably includes major elements of the modernist approach, in which subjectivity is seen as unified. At this time of paradigm shift between modernism and postmodernism, therefore, it is important that pluralists decenter from their theories and respect the continuing influence of modernism on psychoanalytic theory and practice.

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Metadaten
Author:Susan Fairfield
Parent Title (English):Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 221-251.
Document Type:Articles
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2001
Release Date:2017/11/20
Format:xerox upon request / Fotokopie auf Anfrage
IdNo:Fairfield_S_2001
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Articles / Artikel
Licence (German):
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