Description
Book SynopsisDid Freud present a scientific hypothesis about the unconscious, as he always maintained and as many of his disciples keep repeating? Offering a view of the texts in which Wittgenstein mentions Freud, this work describes the intellectual climate of Vienna in the early part of the twentieth century.
Trade Review"Wittgenstein is a severe critic of Freud's scientific claims, but he is not in the company of those who disparage his achievement. His remarks about Freud are scattered through his writing. Bouveresse has artfully brought them together to reveal a coherently ambivalent view of Freud."--Eugene Goodheart, Boston Book Review "The grand Baroque architecture of Freud's thought still stands after Wittgenstein's, and Bouveresse's, peppering critique, but it no longer looks habitable."--Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle "Bouveresse's perceptive and illuminating study of Wittgenstein on Freud ... is very welcome not just as an immensely readable account of two of the century's most important thinkers, but because it throws light also on the intellectual debate in France, where there has been a lively quarrel between psychoanalysis and philosophy."--A. C. Grayling, The London Financial Times "In drawing together most of the remarks made by Wittgenstein on Freud, many of the relevant passages from Freud's work, and a good deal of quotation from the secondary literature on the subject, Bouveresse has performed a valuable service for Wittgenstein scholars."--Ray Monk, Nature "This small book is a treasure for those of us who want to understand and better articulate our own ambivalent attitudes toward Freud."--Psychoanalytic Books
Table of ContentsForewordCh. IWittgenstein: Disciple of Freud?3Ch. IIThe Problem of the Reality of the Unconscious22Ch. IIIThe "Generalizing Impulse" or the Philosopher in Spite of Himself42Ch. IVReasons and Causes69Ch. VThe Mechanics of the Mind83Ch. VIThe "Principle of Insufficient Reason" and the Right to Nonsense97Ch. VIIThe "Message" of the Dream109Conclusion122Notes127Bibliography133Index139
