I F Knight | PubMed Health

PubMed1985

Paradigms and crises in psychoanalysis.

The use of T. S. Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions as a model for the history of psychoanalysis is addressed. It is shown that his categories have been regularly misapplied in the interest of establishing the scientific status of psychoanalysis, or of proposing a new theoretical structure. It is argued that Kuhn's model may nevertheless be useful for the history of psychoanalysis on condition that its categories are used precisely, and their correspondence to the data is tested rather than assumed.

History, 20th Century↗

PubMed1984

Freud's "Project": a theory for Studies on Hysteria.

The controversy about the place of Sigmund Freud's unfinished draft of 1895, "Project for a Scientific Psychology," in the history of his thought, is addressed. It is argued that the "Project" may be understood as a suppressed response to the theory of hysteria presented by Josef Breuer in his and Freud's joint work, Studies on Hysteria. It is suggested that the "Project" may be read, in part, as a substitute for Breuer's theory. The timing and circumstances of the "Project's" composition are discussed. Its substantive and formal congruence with Studies on Hysteria is brought out. Freud's comments on scientific hypotheses are discussed, and it is shown that they constitute an implicit criticism of Breuer's theory.

History, 19th Century↗