You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Jon Mills's Conundrums is a stimulating work that will enrage and provoke its readers. I found the text both philosophically satisfying and frustratingly misguided. Conundrums is an internal critique of the various theoretical and methodological weaknesses of the relational school of psychoanalysis, offered by a relational analyst. Mills's additional training as a philosopher makes his insights poignant and his reasoning clear.
In the first chapter, Mills outlines the basic tenets of relational theory. Relational theorists prioritize relatedness, and some (e.g., Mitchell) reject the importance of drive. Mills also describes the implicit intersubjective viewpoint of relational psychoanalysis, a belief that commits relational theorists to emphasize intersubjectivity over subjectivity and objectivity. Moreover, this privileging of relatedness calls into question the importance of the unconscious, considering that relatedness is about the conscious interaction of two or more individuals. This radical change in the conception of the unconscious alters Freudian metapsychology and ultimately leads to the view that psychoanalysis does “not require a dynamic unconscious” (p. 13). Finally, the relational school conceives of psychoanalysis as a hermeneutic-a method of interpretation-and not as a proper science.
Given that Mill self-identifies as a relational analyst, he is very invested in trying to right some of these theoretical wrongs. According to Mills, the problem underlying all these notions is the indiscriminate embrace of postmodern philosophy, which rejects ontology and epistemological frameworks. Mills critiques relational analysts, such as Mitchell, for uncritically adopting postmodern concepts without fully thinking through the contradictions and incoherence of these philosophical positions.
First, Mills critiques the postmodern fascination with linguistics and the belief that meaning is socially constructed. Although language mediates our experiences, Mills suggests