Some Functions of Being Fair and Just: Or not, in Clinical Psychoanalysis

The author suggests that the concepts of fairness and justice might be psychoanalytically useful. They are social ideas but often arise clinically. Since psychoanalysis is about intimate and internal events, the wide social and legal settings associated with formal justice are not addressed. Fairness and informal justice arise more intimately and are central here. Fairness is concerned with thorough consideration of an issue. To be fair, the people involved must be considered with impartiality before a decision. Justice generally is more formal, aiming to ensure the integrity of a system, its parts and individual members. It is noted that psychopathogenic conditions can arise in conflicting situations involving fairness and justice. Clinical illustrations suggest that the psychoanalytic process can implicitly aim to resolve their after-effects. Technique is addressed in this light. A central suggestion emerges here. The philosopher Jürgen Habermas proposes that justice rests essentially upon opportunity for argumentation between all those affected. The author suggests that psychoanalytic therapy is likewise a constructive argumentation.