Many psychoanalytic disagreements are incoherent becasue they are rooted in incongruent methods of contextualizing the underlying raw data. This book proposes novel views about the neglected contextualizing processes of the analyst that pave the way to more coherent comparisons of our differing theoretical claims. The book presents four detailed clinical examples of such psychoanalytic controversies to illustrate how incommensurate contextualizations foster confusion. It concludes with a discussion of associations, contextualization, and hermenuetics, illustrating that the antinomian opposition of science versus hermenuetics is reductive and misleading. Reviews: "In this innovative contribution of historical importance, Boesky provides a break-through way for psychoanalysis to move beyond its present Babel of Pluralism. While valuing each of the various analytic points of view, Boesky shows that there can never be a simple Rosetta stone for translating one psychoanalytic point of view into another. However, he then moves beyond that limitation to develop brilliantly a methodology for comparison of analytic understandings, taking us from examination of what we think to that of how we think. Boesky proposes and elucidates the promise of contextualization, clarifying an essential vocabulary and opening the way for appreciation, comparison and integration of various psychoanalytic understandings. While doing all of this, Boesky takes us beyond false battles, such as that of analysis as a scientific vs a hermeneutic enterprise. And what makes this major leap forward in our thinking all the more estimable is the uncommon clarity with which Boesky exposes the issues, their development, and the possibilities for resolution. The book is readable, indeed reading like an engaging conversation. This work, respectful of diversity, expresses a rare passion of inquiry shaped by precision of thought. It is an essential reading for all analytic thinkers, having the capacity to move future analytic debate from parochial polemics to constructive discourse"—Warren S. Poland, Author, "Melting Darkness" "In this courageous book, based on a lifetime of experience, Dale Boesky challanges psychoanalysts to recognize their failure to meet the requirements for substantive clinical dialogue and comparison of theoretical positions. Grounding his discussion in extensive, detailed clinical material, he argues persuasively that what passes for dialogue and comparison too often involves incommensurate presenatations or appraisals. One of his most important contributions is to delineate and emphaszie the need for attention to disagreements between analysts who share a particular perspective. Focusing on contextualization (a concept he explains and illustrates fully) of the patient's associative material and the analyst's, he offers a realistic path toward achievement of meaningful compaison between some (though not all) psychanalytic perspectives - an outstanding achievement."—Anton Kris, M.D. "Contemporary psychoanalysis is marked by a multitude of theories, and with them, disputes about theory. Dale Boesky finds that much of the time when we disagree vigorously we are actually talking past each other. Boesky offers the outline of a method of comparative psychoanalysis that will separate real disagreements from noisy misunderstandings, and as a result will allow us to compare the ways in which different analysts, using different theories, approach clinical material and reach clinical inferences. He illustrates his argument with case material, both his own and others, and confronts the major questions of our science. In Psychoanalytic Disagreements in Context, he does not provide us with answers, but instead offers a systematic strategy for identifying critical differences and assembles the relevant data that help to resolve them."—Robert Michels, M.D., Walsh McDermott University Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, Corness University; supervising and training analyst, Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research; Joint Editor-in-Chief, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis About the Author: Dr. Boesky is the past Editor-in-Chief of The Psychoanalytic Quarterly. He is a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute.
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