wittgenstein
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What Happens When We Forget a Word?
It’s infuriating when you know something and can’t quite call it to mind. Both Wittgenstein and Freud wrote about this situation, but they were interested in different aspects of it, and they went in very different directions. Wittgenstein focused on situations where a word seems to be on the tip of our tongue but we Continue reading
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What is the mind? What is consciousness?
Philosophers, scientists and psychologists have puzzled over the mind for centuries. This is surprising. How can what defines us be such a mystery to us? How is it that we have a better picture of what goes on inside an atom than what goes on inside our heads? We have made progress in relation to Continue reading
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Freud’s Struggle with the Mind/Body Problem (1)
Freud’s patients suffered from many symptoms, but there was nothing wrong with their bodies. The problem was their minds. But how could the mind cause changes in the body or were the real causal factors events in the nervous system? This puzzle was one of the biggest medico-scientific challenges of the time, and Freud was Continue reading
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Ogden and the Problem of Inner Objects
Object relations theorists use the concept of internal objects to provide insights into human action, but what exactly are these internal objects? Where are they located and how are they able to play such a role in our lives? In his 1983 paper The Concept of Internal Object Relations, U.S. psychoanalyst, Thomas Ogden, sketches the Continue reading
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Meaning, Ethics and Psychoanalysis
The frightening thing about madness is that people’s words and deeds lose their meaning. We can no longer relate to them as we normally relate to people. We cannot see their actions as the expression of reasonable intentions nor can we understand their statements as the expression of a reasonable attempt to make sense of Continue reading
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Philosophy and Psychoanalysis: A Difficult Relationship
Freud was attracted to philosophy, but also irritated by it. Not only did it never seem to get anywhere, but it treated human beings as essentially rational, which was in stark contrast to the way people actually behaved. This approach was clearly not the way forward. As with everything else, the way to establish the Continue reading
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Wittgenstein and Freud: Overrated or Undervalued?
Ludwig Wittgenstein and Sigmund Freud have a lot in common. Both were Viennese gurus, who inspired groups of disciples to preach their world-changing revelations to a sceptical world. Both were forthright in putting forward their views, but believed they were offering therapy for which the recipient would ultimately be grateful. Both reached the high point Continue reading
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How is that we can speak about and share our “indescribable” feelings?
Sometimes we find it difficult to express our feelings. They seem almost impossible to put into words. “I cannot describe it to you, you would need to experience it yourself”. But perhaps we should try harder. To some extent, saying you cannot describe your experience is a cop out. Generally, there are lots of things Continue reading
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How will we know when the Singularity occurs?
Elon Musk has predicted that the Singularity – the moment when computers become more intelligent than humans – could occur as soon as 2029. But how will we know that this has happened? What would make us conclude that computers had surpassed us? There is no doubt that they can do lots of things better Continue reading
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Do we really know what we are thinking and feeling?
There are few things worse than other people telling us what we think and feel. It is a fundamental attack on our right to express ourselves. It reflects an aggressive narcissism that does not respect boundaries because it does not really accept that other people exist. It is understandable, therefore, that we should want to Continue reading
Wittgenstein and Freud 