Sibling conflict and theory of mind

This study examined conflicts between siblings in an attempt to identify variables that are related to false‐belief understanding. The variables investigated were children's use of mental state terms and specific types of arguments (Slomkowski & Dunn, 1992) that occurred during conflict episodes. Twenty‐two children between 3 and 5 years of age were administered eight false‐belief tasks and were also videotaped while playing with an older sibling. Use of other‐oriented arguments by the target child was significantly associated with success on false‐belief tasks after controlling for age and general language ability. No use of argument was negatively related to performance on the false‐belief tasks after controlling for age and general language ability. Neither the use of self‐oriented arguments nor use of mental state terms was found to be associated with false‐belief performance. The findings indicate that specific features of sibling conflicts are related to children's developing false‐belief understanding.     

Catalyzing the dialogue between the body and the mind in a psychotic analysand

The author presents the analysis of a 23-year-old, obese, psychotic man who was dominated by sensations and unable to work through the different levels of psychic elaboration. He could not discriminate between words and concrete objects or between the perceptual functions of sense organs and the oral-cannibalistic level of instinct. Following the working through of these inabilities, it became possible to understand the patient's use of sensation and to make him aware of his emotions and conflicts. The author's discussion of this material emphasizes the role of the body-mind conflict and how this can be confronted in the analytic relationship. Possible links with neuroscience are also indicated.     

Psychoanalysis,religion, philosophy and the possibility for dialogue: Freud,Binswanger and Pfister

Abstract

This article considers the longstanding disciplinary tensions between psychoanalysis, religion, and philosophy. It argues for a cross-disciplinary understanding of human experience by examining the relationship of Sigmund Freud to his two Swiss colleagues, Ludwig Binswanger and Oskar Pfister. In contrast to Freud's avowed atheism and pronounced ambivalence on philosophy, Binswanger and Pfister both professed a strong religious sensibility and philosophical outlook. The article juxtaposes their theoretical divergences on religion and philosophy with personal interactions and correspondence. The relationship of Freud to Binswanger and Pfister is instructive for understanding the historical and contemporary interaction of psychoanalytic theory and practice with other disciplines and diverse viewpoints. The dialogical spirit that connects the three protagonists constitutes a critical engagement with learning and is essential to psychoanalysis today.     

Freud and the figure of Moses: the Moses of Freud.

Moses was a lifelong preoccupation of Freud, representing a double and idealized self and object. Freud identified with different aspects of Moses during different periods of development, from concrete hero to abstract ideal. He turned to Moses in the concluding phase of his relationship with Fliess and his self-analysis, and then at other times of crisis. The Moses recreated by Freud is important to the evolution of the concepts of the superego, and his Moses studies simultaneously illuminate the developmental significance of internalization, identification, and abstract symbolic thought. Latently autobiographical, the Moses motif is related to the analysis of unconscious conflict and trauma and to issues of Jewish identity and analytic ideals.     

The concept of phylogenetic inheritance in Freud and Jung.

At the height of their collaboration in late 1911, Freud had succeeded in persuading Jung of the role of phylogenetic factors in the etiology of neuroses and psychoses. Phylogenetic considerations play an important part in the formulation of Jung's genetic standpoint of psychology with its conception of a desexualized primal libido, which figured prominently in the dispute which ended the relations between Freud and Jung. Freud's unpublished draft of "Overview of the Transference Neuroses" was in part an attempt to counter Jung's revisions of libido theory by using phylogenetic considerations to reaffirm his original conception of a unified sexual libido. Despite the sharp divergence of many aspects of their respective psychologies after the break, a conception of phylogenetic inheritance continued to play an important role in their developing theoretical formulations.     

The Perennial Freud: Method versus Myth and the Mischief of Freud Bashers

Nowadays Freud bashing is not only à la mode, in certain circles it has become de rigueur. Once a name of respect, Freud has become a name of ridicule. But like any scientific method, body of knowledge, and therapeutic procedure, psychoanalysis should be subjected to critical scrutiny. The recent crop of hostile Freud critics may have filled a vacuum left for decades by a psychoanalytic establishment which, like the Church of yesteryear, shunned all forms of criticism intramural and extramural. A central guiding idea of this essay is the distinction between the psychoanalytic method and psychoanalytic doctrines, hypotheses, and theories. This distinction has been invariably confused by both Freud's adherents and Freud's attackers. Moreover, arguments ad rem have been conflated with arguments ad hominem. A socially responsible criticism must seek to be constructive and not merely destructive. It is the latter course that was taken by the various hostile critics that came to be labeled as Freud bashers. The time has come to take a stand against the more egregious attacks on Freud and the psychoanalytic method.     

Getting Vygotskian about theory of mind: Mediation,dialogue, and the development of social understanding

The ideas of Vygotsky [Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). Thinking and speech. In The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky, (Vol. 1). New York: Plenum. (Original work published 1934.)] have been increasingly influential in accounting for social–environmental influences on the development of social understanding (SU). In the first part of this article, I examine how Vygotskian ideas have to date been recruited to explanations of the development of SU. Next, I present a model of SU development which draws on two implications of Vygotsky’s ideas: the importance of semiotic mediation for mental functioning, and the dialogic nature of the higher mental functions. I then consider the value of the proposed model in accounting for evidence from three areas of enquiry: the typical development of SU in infancy and early childhood, relations between individual differences in SU and social–environmental variables, and atypical development. The model is suggested to be particularly helpful in understanding the transition from intentional-agent to mental-agent understanding, and the role of language in SU. Remaining challenges include a need to specify further the cognitive processes underlying internalization, and to gather more extensive evidence on the roles of typical and atypical social experience in SU development.     

论柏拉图与孔子的“虔诚”与“孝”之美学

本文要阐明的问题是:柏拉图和孔子二人是如何看待"虔诚"("孝")与正义之间的冲突和矛盾的?他们各自对这种冲突与矛盾又是如何作答的?以及"虔诚"("孝")的审美特征在两人的观点中各自起到了何种作用?从而进一步阐明伦理学与美学之间可能存在的联系,从而可以得出一个鲜明的观点,即:伦理价值是完全可以与审美价值分离的.从论述方法上,笔者分别审视柏拉图和孔子关于"虔诚"("孝")的观点,然后对二者审视的结果进行阐述.