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This award-winning book investigates the critique of psychoanalysis formulated by the psychiatrist and philosopher Karl Jaspers (1883-1969) over a period of five decades. His arguments against Freud and his followers are examined from systematic perspectives. The study traces the medico-historical roots of Jasper’s criticism of psychoanalysis and then places it within the framework of scientific theory before devoting itself extensively to medico-ethical aspects of the controversy, which are ultimately treated in terms of a history of mentalities. According to this view, Jasper’s student Hannah Arendt saw to it that the philosopher be made aware of the socio-cultural impact which psychoanalysis was beginning to have in the USA. The philosopher came to look upon psychoanalysis as a theory – in particular as it was propagated after 1945 in Germany and the US – whose claim to scientific objectivity constituted a serious threat to the freedom of the individual. Max Weber’s theory of science and his concept of modernity serve as a critical guide for the interpretation. Thus the normative premise of the investigation is the liberal idea that in a secular and pluralistic society it is ultimately the individual who is to take responsibility for life conduct.
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LIFE CONDUCT IN MODERN TIMES Philosophy and Medicine VOLUME 89 Founding Co-Editor Stuart F. Spicker Editor H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., Department of Philosophy, Rice University, and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas Associate Editor Kevin Wm. Wildes, S.J., Department of Philosophy and Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Editorial Board George J. Agich, Department of Bioethics, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio Nicholas Capaldi, Department of Philosophy, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma Edmund Erde, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Stratford, New Jersey Eric T. Juengst, Center for Biomedical Ethics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio Christopher Tollefsen, Department of Philosophy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina Becky White, Department of Philosophy, California State University, Chico, California LIFE CONDUCT IN MODERN TIMES KARL JASPERS AND PSYCHOANALYSIS by MATTHIAS BORMUTH University of Tübingen, Germany A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 1-4020-4764-9 (HB) ISBN 978-1-4020-4764-9 (HB) ISBN 1-4020-4765-7 (HB) ISBN 978-1-4020-4765-7 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springer.com Printed on acid-free paper The translation of this book was made by Susan Nurmi - Schomers All Rights Reserved © 2006 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed in the Netherlands. TO HANS HEIMANN THE FIRST READER TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ............................................................................................xi 1. Introduction..................................................................................................... 1 2. The Critique of Psychoanalysis 1913-1920 ................................................... 7 The 1913 General Psychopathology ................................................................. 8 Jaspers and Psychiatry in Heidelberg............................................................ 8 Psychopathology at the Div