Did Freud present a scientific hypothesis about the unconscious, as he always maintained and as many of his disciples keep repeating? This question has long prompted debates concerning the legitimacy and usefulness of psychoanalysis, and it is of utmost importance to Lacanian analysts, whose main project has been to stress Freud's scientific grounding. Here Jacques Bouveresse, a noted authority on Ludwig Wittgenstein, contributes to the debate by turning to this Austrian-born philosopher and contemporary of Freud for a candid assessment of the early issues surrounding psychoanalysis. Wittgenstein, who himself had delivered a devastating critique of traditional philosophy, sympathetically pondered Freud's claim to have produced a scientific theory in proposing a new model of the human psyche. What Wittgenstein recognized-and what Bouveresse so eloquently stresses for today's reader-is that psychoanalysis does not aim to produce a change limited to the intellect but rather seeks to provoke an authentic change of human attitudes. The beauty behind the theory of the unconscious for Wittgenstein is that it breaks away from scientific, causal explanations to offer new forms of thinking and speaking, or rather, a new mythology. Offering a critical view of all the texts in which Wittgenstein mentions Freud, Bouveresse immerses us in the intellectual climate of Vienna in the early part of the twentieth century. Although we come to see why Wittgenstein did not view psychoanalysis as a science proper, we are nonetheless made to feel the philosopher's sense of wonder and respect for the cultural task Freud took on as he found new ways meaningfully to discuss human concerns. Intertwined in this story of Wittgenstein's grappling with the theory of the unconscious is the story of how he came to question the authority of science and of philosophy itself. While aiming primarily at the clarification of Wittgenstein's opinion of Fre

Wittgenstein Reads Freud

Politics & Social Sciences

BOUVERESSE, Jacques

Philosophy

Princeton University Press

Did Freud present a scientific hypothesis about the unconscious, as he always maintained and as many of his disciples keep repeating? This question has long prompted debates concerning the legitimacy and usefulness of psychoanalysis, and it is of utmost importance to Lacanian analysts, whose main project has been to stress Freud's scientific grounding. Here Jacques Bouveresse, a noted authority on Ludwig Wittgenstein, contributes to the debate by turning to this Austrian-born philosopher and contemporary of Freud for a candid assessment of the early issues surrounding psychoanalysis. Wittgenstein, who himself had delivered a devastating critique of traditional philosophy, sympathetically pondered Freud's claim to have produced a scientific theory in proposing a new model of the human psyche. What Wittgenstein recognized--and what Bouveresse so eloquently stresses for today's reader--is that psychoanalysis does not aim to produce a change limited to the intellect but rather seeks to provoke an authentic change of human attitudes. The beauty behind the theory of the unconscious for Wittgenstein is that it breaks away from scientific, causal explanations to offer new forms of thinking and speaking, or rather, a new mythology.
 Offering a critical view of all the texts in which Wittgenstein mentions Freud, Bouveresse immerses us in the intellectual climate of Vienna in the early part of the twentieth century. Although we come to see why Wittgenstein did not view psychoanalysis as a science proper, we are nonetheless made to feel the philosopher's sense of wonder and respect for the cultural task Freud took on as he found new ways meaningfully to discuss human concerns. Intertwined in this story of Wittgenstein's grappling with the theory of the unconscious is the story of how he came to question the authority of science and of philosophy itself. While aiming primarily at the clarification of Wittgenstein's opinion of Freud, Bouveresse's book can be read as a challenge to the French psychoanalytic school of Lacan and as a provocative commentary on cultural authority.

Ces Entretiens apparaissent comme l'autobiographie intellectuelle d'un des philosophes les plus au fait de quelques-uns des grands débats contemporains. Jacques Bouveresse retrace avec Jean-Jacques Rosat les grandes lignes de son parcours philosophique, tout en dressant un plaidoyer pour un style de pensée modeste, rigoureux et ironique. Issu de la génération des jeunes assistants qui, dans les années 60, montèrent à l'assaut d'une Sorbonne un peu trop poussiéreuse, il fut le défenseur de la logique « moderne », alors tenue pour marginale et exotique. Adversaire-né de tous les conformismes et introducteur en France des grands philosophes logiciens (Wittgenstein, Russel...), il ne s'est pas contenté de plaider pour la philosophie analytique ; il a tracé la voie d'une certaine résistance intellectuelle, par le biais d'une distance ironique face aux illusions que la philosophie entretient sur ses pouvoirs et sur elle-même. Jacques Bouveresse est professeur au Collège de France. Il a notamment publié Le Mythe de l'intériorité, Minuit, 1976/1987 ; Le Philosophe chez les autophages, Minuit, 1984 ; Rationalité et Cynisme, Minuit, 1984 ; La force de la règle : Wittgenstein et l'invention de la nécessité, Minuit, 1987 ; La Demande philosophique, Ed. de l'Eclat, 1996. Jean-Jacques Rosat est maître de conférence au Collège de France et assistant de Jacques Bouveresse.

Le philosophe et le réel: Entretiens avec Jean-Jacques Rosat

PLURIEL

La Voix de l'âme et les Chemins de l'esprit. Dix études sur Robert Musil

SEUIL

La Passion de l'exactitude - Robert Musil et la philosophie

VATAN, Florence

HORS D ATTEINTE

Les foudres de Nietzsche - Et l'aveuglement des disciples

Social Sciences

Rationalité et cynisme

Reference

Foreign Language Study & Reference

MINUIT

Le pays des possibles Wittgenstein les mathématiques et le monde réel

Philosophy of Perception: Phenomenology, Grammar and the Cognitive Sciences / Philosophies de la perception: Phénoménologie, grammaire et sciences cognitives (French Edition)

Rosat, Jean-Jacques

Odile Jacob

Peut-on ne pas croire ?: Sur la vérité, la croyance et la foi

AGONE

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