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Has the concept of “character” gone out of fashion? Or is it due for a comeback, in part because of a newfound appreciation of its vital significance when we choose political leaders? Did we (psychologists/psychoanalysts) replace it with a more interpersonally based concept of personality? Is the concept of character irretrievably linked to the imposition of (culturally shaped and ultimately suspect) values? If it can be shorn of value judgments, what is its usefulness? Finally, what can the psychoanalyst contribute to a discussion of these issues?
Before I summarize Garber’s thought-provoking book, I would like to highlight factors that might make analysts uniquely qualified to address these questions. Beyond our knowledge of theories of human functioning and our training and clinical experience, I believe every analyst, regardless of theoretical allegiances, has had numerous opportunities to learn the importance of Keats’ concept of negative capability. That is, we need to be able to live with uncertainties, mysteries, and doubts, without irritably reaching after fact and reason (Keats, 1959). Everyday encounters with patients, and with ourselves, manifest that the seemingly contradictory or mysterious may nevertheless be true. It is vital to cultivate the capacity to dwell in periods of uncertainty. For example, Keats’ injunction has led me to value the universality of some aspects of human experience as well as the tremendous influence of culture. Seeing this issue in binary terms (with universality pitted against culture, in order to arrive at certainty about which is the important factor) has never seemed fruitful to me. We have some fundamental commonalities with all human beings and some individual and socially conditioned differences. We all die, but what it means to us is shaped by our cultures,
our personal relationships, age-related factors, bodily experience, and so much else. That I cannot watch a production of “King Lear” without crying says somethi