You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Psychoanalysis today is no longer defined by a central unifying theory that distinguishes it from all other psychologies. On the contrary, contemporary psychoanalytic thinking forces upon us the awareness of the many different theories that have evolved within our field. This development leads me to reflect on many different questions: How can we analysts turn our diversity to an advantage? How to solve the problem of each approach's proclaiming its own scientific value above the others? How is the individual analyst affected by this diversity in his own ideals pertaining to truth, knowledge, and validity? And how much tolerance are we psychoanalysts capable of?
In my attempt to answer these questions a number of epistemological and ethical factors emerge. I have attempted a definite psychoanalytic approach to these essentially ethical questions. When faced with the problem of pluralism in psychoanalysis, my approach aims to provide a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in both the acknowledgment or rejection of the other's point of view.
I begin with a systematic study of these aspects as they appear in contemporary practice.
The problem of pluralism in current psychoanalysis was posed by Wallerstein (1988) at the 35th International Congress