Epilogue: Daniel Stern: Contributions to Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology, Part II

The second issue of Psychoanalytic Inquiry honoring Daniel Stern reflects on a number of important contributions Stern made to developmental psychology and to psychoanalysis. We begin this issue with a remembrance from the Boston Change Process Study Group describing Stern’s playful, generous manner and his pioneering work synthesizing developmental research and psychoanalytic thinking. This article provides a wonderful sense of what it was like to be with and to work with Dan, highlighting his creativity and sense of fun.

What follows are three articles that explore and expand Stern’s concept of implicit relational knowing. Ted Shapiro, writing from a classical psychoanalytic model, provides a respectful critique that, nonetheless, includes his appreciation of the relevance of now moments that may contribute to a new opening in the intersubjective space between patient and analyst, potentially leading to a deeper engagement between patient and analyst. A second article, from Bruce Reis, incorporates a philosophical perspective, calling for a deep connectedness between patient and analyst. Reis promotes the importance of the analyst deeply being with her patient. Massimo Ammaniti concludes this section with an article that provides a broad developmental exploration of implicit knowledge. Ammaniti includes a clinical vignette that illustrates the emergence of new ways of being and being together for Ammaniti and his patient.

In the next section, three articles explore Stern’s construct of dynamic forms of vitality from a number of perspectives. Myron Hofer explores the concept of vitality forms from an evolutionary perspective including their role in the development of complex adult social interactions in primates. Vittorio Gallese and Magali Rochat discuss the topic of forms of vitality from a neuroscience perspective and offer a new take on the elements of making others’ behavior meaningful, the process of social cognition. They also include a discussion of social co