The Is-Ought Problem: An Investigation in Philosophical Logic

Book Information The Is-Ought Problem: An Investigation in Philosophical Logic. By Gerhard Schurz. Kluwer. Dordrecht. 1997. Pp. x + 332. £92.25.     

The Problem of Patriotism: A Psychoanalytic and Theological Analysis

In this article, I examine patriotism from psychoanalytic and theological perspectives, arguing that it is a deeply problematic form of love and devotion. After providing a brief overview of the discourse vis-à-vis patriotism, I depict the characteristics of a dominant form of patriotism (self-state) in the U.S. Given this, I argue that, while patriotism has a variety of forms, the most prevalent form tends toward tragic consequences and it is this tragic tendency that I depict from psychoanalytic and theological perspectives. From a psychoanalytic perspective, the extant form of patriotism in the U.S. represents a self-state that signifies an idealized, omnipotent, and imaginary identification, which is accompanied by and contingent upon a devaluation of the Other. Moreover, the dominant form of patriotic self-states is secured by weak dissociation, omnipotent thinking and, in most cases, a collapse of the symbolic equation. From a Christian theological perspective, patriotism signifies absolutizing the relative and contingent. This form of idolatry manifests a distortion of reason and will, which contributes to corrupted and corrupting forms of love and devotion.     

Psychological Tests Don't Think: An Appreciation of Schafer's Psychoanalytic Interpretation In Rorschach Testing

Roy Schafer 's Psychoanalytic Interpretation in Rorschach Testing has, for nearly 40 years, represented a hallmark of psychodynamically informed psychological assessment. In this article, Schafer's contribution is reviewed in light of recent contributions to the Rorschach literature. Following a summary of the main sections of the work, Schafer's approach to the Rorschach is critically re-examined from the perspective of modem assessment practice. Differences between the epistemological bases of psychoanalytic and empirical methods of Rorschach interpretation are highlighted, and the prospects for an integration of these two approaches are considered. It is concluded that Schafer's contribution remains as fresh today as when written 40 years ago.     

Linda问题:"齐当别"抉择模型的解释

大量有关人类归因判断的研究表明,人类经常违反理性概率公理.Tversky和Kahneman(1983)使用Linda问题等特定场景的研究发现,人们系统性地表现出违反理性推断标准,判断合取事件发生概率大于其组成事件发生概率,称之为合取谬误,并用人们使用代表性启发式判断概率来解释该现象产生的原因.然而使用启发式观点对合取谬误现象进行解释过于模糊不清.该文首先介绍了合取谬误现象及其解释模型,然后应用Li(1994,2004)提出的不确定情形下决策理论--"齐当别"抉择模型对Linda问题中合取谬误产生的原因进行了新的解释.     

Progress and Persecution in the Psychoanalytic Heartland: Antisemitism,Communism and the Fate of Hungarian Psychoanalysis

In this paper, a historical story is unfolded that illuminates crucial and tragic elements of both Hungarian history and the particular history of Hungarian psychoanalytic culture, institutes, and individuals. The paper follows a set of tragic persecutions of Hungarian analysts, first those leading up to the Second World War, the Holocaust, and then during postwar period of Stalinism and the Cold War. This paper opens a story and a historical record of courage, betrayal, international aid, despair, and resilience.

The paper also sets this story in the context of the striking qualities of Hungarian psychoanalysis, beginning with Ferenczi. It is a tragic moment that a psychoanalytic movement, broadly interdisciplinary and linked to powerful forces of creativity and invention in many facets of theory of psychoanalysis and Hungarian culture, somehow surviving Nazism and Holocaust, finally became the victim of the Stalinist regime. The paper gives answers to the questions why and how psychoanalysis could be an enemy of the Stalinist dictatorship in Hungary. The paper charts the vitality and scope of psychoanalysis in Hungary and the terrible assaults that individuals and theories and institutions suffered over half a century.     

The Exclusion Problem Meets the Problem of Many Causes

In this paper I develop a novel response to the exclusion problem. I argue that the nature of the events in the causally complete physical domain raises the “problem of many causes”: there will typically be countless simultaneous low-level physical events in that domain that are causally sufficient for any given high-level physical event (like a window breaking or an arm raising). This shows that even reductive physicalists must admit that the version of the exclusion principle used to pose the exclusion problem against non-reductive physicalism is too strong. The burden is on proponents of the exclusion problem to provide a reason to think that any qualifications placed on the exclusion principle will solve the problem of many causes while ruling out causation by irreducible mental events.     

In the Name of Psychoanalysis: Persistent Controversies and Evolution in Psychoanalysis: A Review of Impossible Training: A Relational View of Psychoanalytic Education by Emanuel Berman

In his book Impossible Training, Emanuel Berman stresses the historical roots of current standards of psychoanalytic training and demonstrates the persistence of controversies that have been present in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic training from their inception. This perspective, of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic education as evolving, encourages candidates and practitioners to be participants and creative voices in an evolving field rather than rote followers learning a trade. The author proposes ways that the transference of educators to the younger generation of psychoanalysts can facilitate or interfere with the training of candidates. Berman is applauded for shedding light on current controversies in psychoanalytic education by showing their roots in historical controversies. However, the author points out Berman's tendency to overvalue his side of the controversy rather than embrace controversy itself as in the best interest of the evolution and development of the field.     

In Search of Psychoanalytic Pluralism: An Inquiry into Time, Money, and Love

This essay examines religious studies scholarship that has relied heavily upon the work of Sigmund Freud and attempts to show its weakness by offering a self psychological reading to complement each text. In doing this, I inquire into the scholarly tendency to avoid pluralistic use of meta-psychologies, arguing that the well-being of the field is weakened by such scholarly fixations. The essay draws its concluding observations largely on trends in scholarly literature, inquiring into the nature and quality of the use of multiple meta-psychologies in scholarly monographs.     

Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Superego Functioning Following CS Readministration Procedures: Case Illustration

The Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003) has specific procedures to address brief Rorschach protocols when the first administration yields fewer than 14 responses. These procedures involve the assessor's asking the client to retake the test by providing more responses on the second administration than the first administration. The request carries with it an implicit criticism of the client's initial effort and a mandate to improve performance on retake. The retake request, with its ambiguously worded demand for improved performance, engages the client's superego (i.e., the client feels judged) and makes it possible to study superego manifestations (e.g., guilt, shame) on the Rorschach test, using a model of (a) brief first record, (b) retake directive, and (c) second administration. We present a case that illustrates a clinical strategy, modeled on a psychoanalytic understanding of the CS retake procedure, for studying the client's superego functioning under retest conditions.     

Psychological tests don't think: an appreciation of Schafer's Psychoanalytic Interpretation in Rorschach Testing

Roy Schafer 's Psychoanalytic Interpretation in Rorschach Testing has, for nearly 40 years, represented a hallmark of psychodynamically informed psychological assessment. In this article, Schafer's contribution is reviewed in light of recent contributions to the Rorschach literature. Following a summary of the main sections of the work, Schafer's approach to the Rorschach is critically re-examined from the perspective of modem assessment practice. Differences between the epistemological bases of psychoanalytic and empirical methods of Rorschach interpretation are highlighted, and the prospects for an integration of these two approaches are considered. It is concluded that Schafer's contribution remains as fresh today as when written 40 years ago.     

Heresies of the Heart and the Problem of the Other: A Psychoanalytic and Theological Perspective

In this article, I unmoor the concept of heresy from its religious, technical roots, using the metaphor heresies of the heart to depict the psychological and theological dynamics of the human proclivity to rely on the idea of Truth to alienate, depersonalize, and coerce other human beings. Using the concepts of the personal mode of existence and emotional intelligence, I define heresies of the heart as comprising (a) those emotional attitudes that involve the transformation of insecurity and anxiety into hostility and hatred toward the Other, (b) recognition and treatment of the Other as less than a person, and (c) unquestionable beliefs regarding one’s truth and the certainty of one’s innocence. Theologically, heresies of the heart signify the presence of idolatry, which is a type of bad faith that involves the use of a contingent object to contain anxiety by transforming it into hostility toward the Other.     

Turn of Fortune in Psychoanalysis: The 1924 Rank Debates and the Origins of Hermeneutic Psychoanalysis

The history of psychoanalysis can be characterized by conflicts that besides their personal content meant a closure and an opening in the development of the theorecial and practical (self )understanding of the discipline. The 1923-24 conflict that resulted in the separation of Rank from the movement and showed the first signs of uneasiness against the mainstream of psychoanalysis in Ferenczi's approach is relatively less known. However, its theoretical, or more general: discoursive impact on psychoanalysis was enormous.The debate took place among the top leaders of the movement, Rank and Ferenczi on one side, Jones, Abraham, Sachs on the other. In the center of the discussion there were two books, The Trauma of Birth by Rank and the The Development of Psychoanalysis by Ferenczi and Rank. With the help of documents I try to show that Freud first supported his Vienna-Budapest friends, later changed over to the other camp. As a general effect, I suggest that this debate resulted in the withdrawal from the earlier more hermeneutic-dialogical, therapy centered psychoanalysis toward a medical, objective, systematic and metapsychology oriented discipline. Besides the general theoretical change the power centers of psychoanalysis shifted toward West, Vienna and Budapest was substituted first by Berlin, later by London and New York.