Exploring the Life of the Soul: Philosophical Reflections on Psychoanalysis and Self Psychology

195 Pages·2017·1.366 MB·English

by  John Hanwell Riker

Exploring the Life of the Soul

Exploring the Life of the Soul
Philosophical Reflections on
Psychoanalysis and Self Psychology
John Hanwell Riker
LEXINGTONBOOKS
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ToMarcia
Clinician,Classicist,Dancer,Pianist,Mother,Grandmother
Brimmingwithwarmth,intelligence,andspirit
MyBelovedPartnerinLife

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction:Psychoanalysis,SelfPsychology,andtheHumanistic
Tradition xv
PartI:PsychoanalysisandtheNatureoftheSelfandSoul 1
1 KnowledgeinPsychoanalysis:CanThereBeaScienceof
Subjectivity? 3
2 TheLifeoftheSoul 17
3 Subjectivity,theEgo,andtheSelf 35
4 TheEroticSelf:Plato,Freud,andKohut 55
5 AncientTheologyandContemporarySelfPsychology:
Monotheism,Mono-Selfism,andtheTransgressionsof
Omnipotence 67
6 EmersonandThoreau:TheSelfinRelationtoNature 79
PartII:SelfPsychology,Culture,andSociety 91
7 Ethics,ModernSociety,andSelfPsychology 93
8 SelfPsychologyandtheProblemoftheOther 113
9 WhatdoHumansNeedtobeHuman?:EconomicSociety,Self
Psychology,andtheProblemofSocialJustice 125
10 SelfPsychologyandHistoricalExplanation:TheDeathofGod
andtheBirthofImpressionism—FormsandTransformationsof
NarcissismintheNineteenthCentury 139
vii
viii Contents
Conclusion 153
Bibliography 157
Index 161
Preface
Icametopsychoanalysisandselfpsychologythroughtwodifferentroutes—
thefirstbeingaphilosophicalsearchintoquestionsofethicsandtheseconda
therapeuticjourneyintothedepthsofmyownsoul.
As I set out on my career as a philosopher at Colorado College, I found
myselfintenselyinterestedinthemostfundamentalofethicalquestions,first
askedbySocrates:howisitbesttoliveasahumanbeing?Ididnotcometo
thisquestioninanabstractway,butanexistentialone,forlikemanygrowing
up in the 1950s, I observed that although my parents and many of their
friendswerelivingtheprescribedlifestyleforthoseinthemiddleandupper
classes,theywerenothappy.Indeed,theamountofrage,alcoholism,abuse,
and emptiness I experienced in my childhood let me know that modern
economic culture did not have the right answer to the ethical question. I
witnessedtoovividlythatmaterialprosperitydidnotnecessarilyequatetoa
depth of human satisfaction. If it were not for a profound relation to nature
(see chapter 6 for this story), I might not have survived childhood. My
unhappiness went underground in later childhood and early adolescence
whenIsurprisinglybecamepopularatschoolandintenselyinterestedingirls
and sports. However, the Socratic question never left me, and when I found
philosophy in college, I knew I had discovered the discipline to which I
needed to devote my life. I was going to address with all the depth I could
mustertheethicalquestionsthathadhauntedmesincechildhood.
The exploration of these questions has turned out to be a lifelong adven-
ture. However, while I was probing a promising way of dealing with the
questionofhowtolivewellintermsofsituatingitincontemporaryscientific
and philosophic understandings of human nature, an event happened that
changedeverythinginmylife:Ihadaseverepsychologicalbreakdown.The
precipitating cause was the falling apart of my first marriage and with it the
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