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Because psychoanalytic theories are a compound of observed material and abstraction from it, they have been criticized as unscientific. They are at once too theoretical, that is to say too much a representation of an observation, to be acceptable as an observation and too concrete to have the flexibility that allows an abstraction to be matched with a realization. Consequently a theory, which could be seen to be widely applicable if it were stated abstractly enough, is liable to be condemned because its very concreteness makes it difficult to recognize a realization that it might represent. Conversely, if such a realization is available, the application of the theory to it may seem to involve a distortion of the meaning of the theory.1 The defect therefore is twofold: on the one hand description of empirical data is unsatisfactory as it is manifestly what is described in conversational English as a ‘theory’ about what took place rather than a factual account of it,2 and on the other the theory of what took place cannot satisfy the criteria applied to a theory as that term is employed to describe the systems used in rigorous scientific investigation.3 The first requirement then is to formulate an abstraction,4 to represent the realization that existing theories purport to describe. I propose to seek a mode of abstraction that ensures that the theoretical statement retains the minimum of
An instance of this can be seen in J. O. Wisdom's paper on ‘An Examination of the Psychoanalytical Theories of Melancholia’ [presented to the British Psychoanalytical Society in October 1961; revised version, Wisdom, 1962], where he clearly states the need for an extension of theory, but sees that it involves making a supposition about what M. Klein's view could have been.
In Grid terms, too much D3 instead of D or E3 [see p. vii].
Too much C3 instead of G4.
The concept of abstraction will be discussed at length; its use in the early stages is provisional. Such a formulation would be in
An instance of this can be seen in J. O. Wisdom's paper on ‘An Examination of the Psychoanalytical Theories of Melancholia’ [presented to the British Psychoanalytical Society in October 1961; revised version, Wisdom, 1962], where he clearly states the need for an extension of theory, but sees that it involves making a supposition about what M. Klein's view could have been.
In Grid terms, too much D3 instead of D or E3 [see p. vii].
Too much C3 instead of G4.
The concept of abstraction will be discussed at length; its use in the early stages is provisional. Such a formulation would be in