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This book is a collection of papers, some new, some reprinted, within the Kleinian tradition. It is the sequel and companion book to Reason and Passion, also edited by David Bell and published in the Tavistock Clinic Series. The two taken together represent a tribute to Hanna Segal's work and range of thought. This second volume seems to me less clearly integrated as a tribute to Segal, and more loosely hung together. However, it is full of excellent articles, and could be seen as an act of gratitude to Segal; the more a person has been internalised, the less possibility of distinguishing what came from, that person and what is one's own.
David Bell's introduction is important both in itself and for giving a rationale for the range of articles included. He argues that psychoanalysis is first and foremost a theory of mind, which has various applications. On this view, what happens in the consulting room is just one application of psychoanalysis—a view which goes against those who argue that psychoanalysis is primarily a treatment of a particular kind, validated only by its therapeutic results. The other application consists in the use of its concepts to understand and illuminate culture, whether broadly or narrowly conceived. Bell thus argues that there is a difference between the heuristic acquisition of knowledge (which may occur primarily in the consulting room) and its logic and meaning. Following Segal and, more generally, the Kleinian position, he argues for a realist account of the potential for knowledge.
One corollary of this is that a person with psychoanalytic understanding is in a position to offer this understanding as a contribution to knowledge of human beings in all contexts, from everyday life to politics and artistic or literary culture. In some cases, there may be a duty to do so, as Segal herself maintained in relation to the dangers of