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This outline of some of the basic psycho-analytic concepts was first presented at a Conference of European Psycho-Analysts held in Amsterdam in May, 1947. It is a reprint from the Psycho-Analytic Quarterly, New York, Vol. XVI, No. 4, 1947.
The author sets out to re-examine the basic mental concepts of Psycho-Analysis. No attempt is made here to render a comprehensive summary of its contents. Only a simplified outline will be given, and an exposition of a few more outstanding, and perhaps also more challenging, conclusions by way of orientation.
The author's main argument is, that since clinical analysis is not possible before the infant can apprehend the meaning of spoken interpretations, statements as to mental development during at least the first two years of life must of need be based on reconstructions. These reconstructions are bound to be dependent on preconceived theories. No hypothetical construction should be regarded as legitimate which does not correspond to the basic concepts on which psycho-analytical theory is founded. These basic concepts can thus serve as a test of new theories. The author does not think that any new analytic technique can ever solve these problems, nor, in his view, can behaviouristic studies. In this connection he uses the curious argument that such observations, to be of any service, must first be interpreted (my italics). 'Data of observation can only be of service provided they are expressed in metapsychological terms.' (Page 31.) In his view, although the complexity of early psychological organization can well be underestimated, the greater danger lies in overestimating it. He decries in this connection the use of concepts like 'primitive ego', 'Super ego', 'central position', or the assumption of highly developed mental mechanisms or complex phantasy formations at a very early age, as from the third to the sixth month of life, in favour of simpler concepts, such as fluctuations of instinctual charges and variations