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What is the relevance of philosophy to the field of psychoanalysis? Is there reason to concern ourselves with philosophy as practitioners in our field? This book is one of many involved in the endeavor to bridge these two fields, and Jonathan Lear is one of the analysts who is set to undertake this task with meritorious knowledge in both areas of study. He covers a wide terrain in Wisdom Won from Illness, traversing psychoanalysis, philosophy, and literature. In his odyssey, Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle dialogue with Freud. Additionally, Lear’s excursions into literature take us into the worlds of Shakespeare, J. M. Coetzee, and Marilynne Robinson.
This book is a mélange of essays written and published throughout the years with a slightly Montaigne-esque style, engaging the reader in a curious dialogue about fundamental issues of human existence. An intellectually rigorous scholar, Lear brings philosophy and psychoanalysis into close contact with each other and shows how they are complementary.
In these essays, Lear seems to return to what I discern is his leitmotif: the question of what constitutes a life well lived. He interweaves ancient Greek philosophy and psychoanalysis in a way that the reader gains a sense of gradually deepening appreciation for the value and utility of the ideas of the philosophers of antiquity. The domain of moral philosophy in particular is invigorated by psychoanalytic thinking; he traces links between moral philosophy, or “ethics” in Greek philosophy, and psychology.