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Proposing a new theory is an ambitious project, not to be undertaken by the inexperienced. Roger Kennedy is a seasoned clinician and writer. He is a training and supervising analyst of the British Psychoanalytic Society, and a consultant psychotherapist at Cassel Hospital. Kennedy has written two books on clinical matters, another book about philosophical thought as it pertains to the issue of human freedom in psychoanalysis, and a fourth book on the works of Jacques Lacan.
Kennedy opens by telling us what he will talk about—the elusive human subjectivity of his title—and why. Two quotes from his first page will let him speak for himself on his choice of subject and give the reader an impression of his style. The book opens as follows:
I begin with a question about the location of human subjectivity which seems to be vital to the psychoanalytic experience, but which is full of difficulties and ambiguities (1).
Kennedy then explains his clinical thesis, his reason for exploring the nature of subjectivity so widely:
The issue of where and how subjectivity is located is not only of theoretical interest but is, I would suggest, of clinical relevance. The clinical setting provides a unique opportunity for understanding the enigmas of subjectivity. Psychoanalysts deal with human suffering and we have privileged access to the most intimate and complex aspects of human reality Yet it is not uncommon to discover that it may be very difficult for the patient to be in contact with his subjective life; indeed, he may actively avoid it. Through the intimate encounter between analyst and patient there may gradually arise a sense that the patient can locate something more subjective. We may describe these moments in terms of something ‘alive’ happening in the session, or patient and analyst having ‘live contact,’ the patient being more ‘in touch,’ the patient having ‘insight,’ or the patient having some increased sense of himself, more sense of an ‘internal space’ (1-2).
So it seems