Dr. Knapp, in her discussion of Psychoanalysis and Ethics, focuses on “the true roots of Jewish ethics” and on “Freud's obsession with Moses. “Dr. Fieldsteel comments on a particular aspect of the paper which reflects the long-standing confusion in much of psychoanalytic writing and thinking. The concepts of super-ego and conscience are used separately, together and interchangeably. Making the distinction between “parentally derived punitive super-ego and the conscience derived from the empathetic connection with the nurturing parent” permits us to speculate more creatively. It allows for a possibility of healthy super-ego development and for the capacity for mature socially related ethical development.

Dr. Knapp's paper raises many questions about both the theory and practice of psychoanalysis in terms of broader ethical issues.