Wittgenstein and Psychoanalysis: Philosophy as Therapy On Some Analogies Between Wittgenstein and Freud

Abstract

There are many ways of connecting Wittgenstein and Freud. The most obvious one being Wittgenstein’s remarks on Freud. In what follows I will take a less known path and focus on the methodological affinities between Wittgenstein’s philosophical practice and Freud’s psychoanalysis. And I will do so by relying on the so called therapeutic turn of Wittgenstein, articulated by Stanley Cavell as well as by Cora Diamond and James Conant. The central claim of this line of interpretation consists in finding Wittgenstein’s originality not so much in his philosophical arguments but – performatively – in the effects his philosophy is supposed to have on its readers. Philosophy is not seen as a constructive discipline that aims at accumulating and enlarging our acquired knowledge but as an activity whose success can be measured in the degree of transformation it allows its readers to achieve. Like in the case of psychoanalysis, for a change to be effective, it will have to be my change and not just the acceptance of an image someone imposes on me.

Keywords:

• Diagnosis Keyword: Diagnosis
• language Keyword: language
• Self-understanding Keyword: Self-understanding
• therapy Keyword: therapy
• transformation Keyword: transformation

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Rights: Incopyright