Psychoanalysis: The Vital Issues, Vol I: Psychoanalysis as an Intellectual Discipline: Edited by John E. Gedo and George H. Pollock. New York: International Universities Press. 1984. Pp. 446.

In an era of theoretical controversy, psychoanalytic theoreticians must pay increasing attention to issues in the philosophy of science. Since most psychoanalysts are preoccupied by clinical issues, philosophical niceties may seem irrelevant, but, just as quantum and nuclear physicists must grapple with how best to conceptualize the world, so psychoanalysts must grapple with how best to conceptualize the mind and its workings. The authors in this volume, although presenting us with a rich array of clinical examples, also face methodological issues head on. Facing these issues can only result in worthwhile theoretical developments.

Freud, with his typical ironic wit, often poked fun at professional philosophers for refusing to recognize his dramatic psychological insights. His rejection of philosophers must, however, be kept distinct from his attitude toward philosophy since, despite his mocking comments, Freud himself was guided by profoundly consistent philosophical principles. For him, all psychological discoveries were to be explained from a particular methodological position, namely, from a biological, natural science point of view. Although Freud's Lamarckianism and his drive theories are nowadays eschewed by many, his recognition that philosophical consistency is necessary for the development of any reliable theory remains as a model for us all. The body of Freud's theory was and is a remarkable achievement, precisely because he was able to render a world of psychological meanings in a credible biological framework. Adventitiously, the biological rendering of the theory made psychoanalytic notions acceptable in the greater scientific community and allowed them access to, especially, the medical-psychiatric establishment. Had Freud rendered his theory in terms of a quasi-literary textual critique, that is, as a hermeneutic discipline, it is unlikely that its acceptability would have been nearly as great.

This book is of interest because, again and again