Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity in Modern Philosophy and Psychoanalysis: A Study of Sartre, Binswanger, Lacan, and Habermas

In this wide-ranging study of subjectivity and intersubjectivity, Roger Frie develops a critical account of recent conceptions of the subject in philosophy and pdychoanalytic theory. Using a line of analysis strongly grounded in the European tradition, Frie examines the complex relationship between the theories of subjectivity, intersubjectivity, language and love in the work of a diverse body of philosophers and psychoanalyists. He provides lucid interpretations of the work of Sartre, Binswanger, Lacan, Habermas, Heidegger, Freud and others. Because it integrates perspectives from continental philosophy, analytical philosophy, and psychoanalytic theory, this book will appeal to a wide audience in the areas of philosophy, history of philosophy, psychoanalysis, and social theory.

About the Author :
Roger Frie is Associate Professor of Education, Simon Fraser University, Affiliate Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, and Supervisor and Faculty member in the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalis and Psychology.

Review :
Roger Frie's important new study makes vital links between psychoanalytical, phenomenological, and other philosophical approaches to questions of subjectivity and intersubjectivity, as well as bringing the neglected figure of Ludwig Binswanger into contemporary debate. Frie argues impressively against many current orthodoxies, showing that theories, like those of Lacan or Habermas, in which subjectivity is understood in purely linguistic terms, fail to account for some of the most central aspects of self-conscious life. Frie's book is wonderful because it brings into the American psychoanalytic dialogue voices- Binswanger's, for example - that are new to most of us, voices that call into question many current fashionable ways of thinking. Our conversation can now become much richer.... I highly recommend this engrossing study of a most relevant and contemporary topic. It is rich in content, thoughtful in its execution, and extremly useful for anyone interested in gaining new insights into contemporary debate between the proponents of subjectivty in psychoanalysis. This is a highly informative and thought-provoking book that we recommend to psychoanalysts for its lucid exposition of the concerns of important twentieth-century European philosophers unsatisfied with materialist concepts of mind popular in Anglo-American circles. The book's greatest virtue is the way it draws the reader into conversation with difficult thinkers about fundamental questions that psychoanalytic discourse often leaves aside and that many psychoanalysts feel are too intimidating even to consider. If there is one work any philosophically inclined analyst should read this year, Frie's excellent scholarly book is it ... Intersubjectivity is something of a new wave in psychoanalysis. An old idea, it has come along through the German idealist tradition to Husserl, Heidegger, and Sartre. Postmodern theorists such as Lacan, Foucault, Levinas, Habermas, Judith Butler, and Ian Hacking want to use it to claim that human subjectivity is merely a social construction. In my opinion, Roger Frie proves them wrong. This book is a lucid and engaging study of a key issue in contemporary thought, which usefully brings together both philosophical and psychoanalytical perspectives. In particular, the thoughtful discussions of the work of Ludwig Binswanger, which is too often neglected in contemporary debates, help to throw new light on the issues involved. Frie's book is wonderful because it brings into the American psychoanalytic dialogue voices- Binswanger's, for example - that are new to most of us, voices that call into question many current fashionable ways of thinking. Our conversation can now become much richer.