Description
Book SynopsisWhat distinguishes one human from another? What exactly does it mean to discover your true self? In Jewish Philosophy and Psychoanalysis, Michael Oppenheim adds a modern twist to the age old theories of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud by interjecting Jewish philosophy. Oppenheim examines the theories and studies of Erik Erikson, British analysts Melanie Klein, W. R. D. Fairbairn, and D.W. Winnicott along with renowned feminist thinker, Luce Irigaray to reassess the relationship between the self and others. The ideas of these psychoanalysts are contrasted with those of Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas, twentieth century Jewish philosophers. Through dialogue between Jewish philosophy and post-Freudian psychoanalysis theories Oppenheim guides the reader through the interhuman in search of the self.
Trade ReviewThis work advances the ongoing conversation between psychoanalysis and religion by revealing unexpected convergences between modern Jewish thought and post-Freudian developments in (largely) Anglo-American psychoanalysis. Oppenheim traces the striking similarities between each group’s conception of human life as fundamentally formed by, and finding its deepest meaning in, relations with others and/or the Other. From Rosenzweig to Buber to Levinas, and from Melanie Klein to Fairbairn to Erikson and Winnicott—and with a substantial foray into the work of Luce Irigaray—Oppenheim demonstrates that, however differently figured, the 'interhuman' returns again and again as a central concern in all of these authors’ narratives of human development, love and transformation. -- Celia Brickman, author of Aboriginal Populations in the Mind: Race and Primitivity in Psychoanalysis
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Jewish Philosophical Narratives of the Interhuman Chapter 2 Psychoanalytic Narratives of Development Chapter 3 Of Gifts Chapter 4 Transference and Transcendence Chapter 5 Luce Irigaray: An/Other Fling with the Philosophers
