Sartre and psychoanalysis.

Abstract

Why read Sartre? Such is the question which is addressed in this article. In a series of publications, principally his monumental Being and Nothingness (1943), the French philosopher of existentialism challenged traditional psychoanalysis with his "existential psychoanalysis." It has remained a matter of debate whether Sartre's alternative approach to the analysis of human motivation and behavior has any value for the psychoanalytic therapist or theorist. In recent publications two clinicians, Charles Hanly (1979) and Richard Chessick (1984), who have read Sartre extensively, respond negatively, arguing that there is nothing productive in Sartre's challenge to Freudian psychoanalysis. In this article I would like to take issue with that point of view and argue that there is indeed much to be gained from reading Sartre, that the challenge which he poses to traditional psychoanalytic thinking with his "existential psychoanalysis" is in fact a productive one for the contemporary clinician and theorist.