Paradoxical Legacy of Sigmund Freud

Frances Moran (BBSc (Hons), MSc (ClinPsych), PhD, MAPS) is in private practice in Armadale, Australia, working as a clinician within the psychoanalytic tradition. She has many journal articles in the field of psychoanalysis to her name and several books including 'Subject and Agency in Psychoanalysis: Which is to be Master?' (New York Univerity Press, 1993) and 'Searching for the Soul: Psychoanalytical and Theological Reflections on Spiritual Growth' with T. Kelly (St Pauls, Strathfield, Australia 1999).

'The Western world has tired of Freud. His propositions and methods are deemed outdated. I reject such sentiments and this book is an attempt to explain why. I will do this in two stages. First, I want to introduce a new reading of Freud and second, I want to expose the paradox that lies at the kernel of his life's endeavour.Once I have established Freud as a practitioner rather than a scientist I will explain the notion of a theory of practice with its tripartite components of theoretical premises, technique and aim.Freud's psychoanalytic theory of practice has as its kernel the etching out of the dimensions of human subjectivity. This I will explore through a brief presentation of the work of the contemporary academic and practitioner Paul Verhaeghe whose project I will show to be a direct inheritance of the Freudian theory of practice.Finally I propose that while the scientific enterprise may be seen to offer much to the contemporary way of life it nevertheless necessarily excludes the very notion of the human subject. Its focus is none other than the human object. Paradoxically, what many see as Freud's failure - to make psychoanalysis a science - is nothing less than his greatest success. He offers us a possible route to repositioning ourselves today.'- From the Author's IntroductionSelection from the Contents:Much Ado About ScienceEstablishing the Freudian FieldThe Fundamental Hypothesis of the Split PsycheThe Fulcrum of DiagnosisTechniqueSubject to ExclusionTelling EvidenceThe Paradoxical Legacy of Sigmund Freud

• Foreword -- Much ado about science -- Establishing the freudian field -- The Masterplan -- The fundamental hypothesis of the split psyche -- The fulcrum of diagnosis part 1: Aetiology -- The fulcrum of diagnosis part 2: Mechanisms -- Aim -- Technique -- Subject to exclusion -- The Inheritance -- To be or not to be? -- Telling evidence -- The paradoxical legacy of Sigmund Freud