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Morris Eagle has made a significant contribution to the critical literature of psychoanalytic concepts with his book Core Concepts in Classical Psychoanalysis: Clinical, Research Evidence and Conceptual Critiques. The “Classical” is emboldened to highlight that the concepts he reviews are derived from Freudian metapsychology that lean heavily on the structural model, though other perspectives on these concepts are usefully included. This book complements his book From Classical to Contemporary Psychoanalysis; A Critique and Integration (2011) which has a similar organization. Together, these two books are, from my perspective, essential reading for all students and especially teachers of psychoanalytic concepts, theoretical and applied. One does not have to agree with all of Eagle’s conclusions to find extraordinary value in the depth, erudition, and scholarship that he lovingly devotes to psychoanalytic theory.
The premise of the book is conceptually straightforward. Eagle identifies four concepts that are central to classical psychoanalytic theory and then in a spectacular display of scholarship, reviews the empirical research evidence and to a lesser extent evidence from other sources, on the concepts which is then followed by conceptual critiques that clarify from his point of view, if the concept should be preserved, modified, or discarded. The four concepts are unconscious process, the Oedipus complex, inner conflict, and defense. His companion book has chapters examining transference, countertransference and projection and projective identification. This review will focus on his critique of classical concepts but if readers are stimulated by this approach, I highly recommend that both books be read, lest one grumble that one’s favorite concept is not included.
Psychoanalytic theory, as we know, has been for the most part derived from the clinical situation. It was Freud’s genius to be able to move from the logical positivistic orientation of his peers to dev