Interpretation and explanation in psychoanalysis

By exploring the logical status of the psychoanalytic object of investigation, the compromise-formation, this dissertation suggests that although Freud's defence of Psychoanalysis as a natural science has been legitimately rejected as problematic, the reconstrual of Psychoanalysis as an interpretive or hermeneutic knowledge is likewise inappropriate to the psychoanalytic object. On the basis of the work of Donald Davidson and Arthur Dante, it is argued instead that the nature and status of Psychoanalysis as a knowledge is best understood and assessed in terms of a third alternative provided by the historical epistemology germane to the psychoanalytic object. In this way, the case against Psychoanalysis as a natural science is granted, while psychoanalytic epistemology is nevertheless defended as explanatory rather than interpretive.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Psychology

Year dc:date.issued

1991

Author dc:creator

• Stein, Joanne

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13545

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13545