Reason and Unreason: Psychoanalysis, Science and Politics (Disseminations: Psychoanalysis In Contexts)

Rustin, Michael

ISBN 10: 0819564796 / ISBN 13: 9780819564795

Published by Wesleyan University Press, 2002

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Reason and Unreason: Psychoanalysis, Science and Politics (Disseminations: Psychoanalysis In Contexts)
• Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0819564796
• ISBN 13: 9780819564795
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Reason and Unreason: Psychoanalysis, Science and Politics explores issues concerning the justification and legitimacy of psychoanalytic knowledge, and its relevance to political and social questions. Part I explores the achievements of the British psychoanalytic tradition, relating these to recent developments in the sociological understanding of the sciences. The argument over the legitimacy of psychoanalysis is advanced beyond sterile polemics towards a more complex and self-confident understanding of its distinctive features and contributions.

The book's second major theme concerns the relevance of psychoanalysis to social and political understanding. Psychoanalysis is here identified as a late form of "modernism" providing coherent and profound ways of thinking about the needs of society. Public policy, Rustin argues, would be more effective if based on a psychoanalytically-informed understanding of relational needs and unconscious anxieties.

About the Author

Michael Rustin is Dean of Social Sciences at the University of East London and Visiting Professor at the Tavistock Clinic. He has published widely in sociology and psychoanalytic studies and is the co-editor of the political journal Soundings