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Product Description
A beautifully written exposition of Freud's ideas and how they emerged from the zeitgeist of the age, Stevens offers students and general readers a stimulating and uniquely balanced assessment of Freud's work. He also examines its implications for society and for understanding the person. The best and most readable introduction to Freud available.
Book Description
Offers an authoritative, comprehensive and original assessment of Freud's contribution written in an engaging and lucid style. Stevens examines both the origins and impact of Freud's work
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Richard Stevens gives an excellent and scholarly overview of Freud's background, work and theories. He quotes many relevant sources of comment, both for and against Freud's ideas, discussing various additions, modifications and refutations of his theories. Dr Stevens offers a careful and cerebral dissection of psychoanalysis as a science, raising questions about the possibility of ever really proving the efficacy of psychoanalysis as a therapy.
This is not exactly bedtime reading but it is a really worthwhile (I might even say, "invaluable") book for anyone interested in Freud as a seminal thinker about the human psyche. The book is well backed up with references. Stevens even gives us a small appendix with some interesting exercises in self-psychology.
This is not exactly bedtime reading but it is a really worthwhile (I might even say, "invaluable") book for anyone interested in Freud as a seminal thinker about the human psyche. The book is well backed up with references. Stevens even gives us a small appendix with some interesting exercises in self-psychology.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a revised edition of Richard Stevens's earlier book `Freud and Psychoanalysis: An Exposition and Appraisal'. The text has been substantially revised and updated while maintaining the same clear and precise prose as before. The book is written for "anyone who seeks to make sense of the human condition" and is divided into three parts. The first of these is particularly intended for those with no knowledge of the literature by and about Freud but its delineation of the man and the theory makes interesting and enjoyable reading for anyone who is not already very thoroughly versed in that literature. Stevens maintains a balance between sympathetic exposition and critical appraisal. He locates Freud's thinking within its historical context but is not shy of pointing out the varied conceptual, logical and empirical shortcomings of his hugely influential body of work.
However, whilst Stevens is no mere apologist, his main purpose is to assess whether or not Freud's ideas have any continuing relevance for present times. This he does in the second part of the book, which explores the nature of psychoanalysis in relation to what it may mean to have knowledge of the human condition, and particularly with regard to creativity and psychotherapy. His view is that the grandeur of psychoanalysis derives from Freud's willingness to engage as widely as possible with the full range of human experience but that, equally, its shortcomings reflect a failure overtly to distinguish between different epistemologies required to encompass that range. He proposes that human nature needs to be understood within a tri-modal framework: a biological aspect that is amenable to the scientific method with which Freud was so keen to associate himself, and symbolic and reflexive aspects that can only be approached hermeneutically by an effort of interpretation. While continuing to express doubts as to the value of the individual elements of Freud's thinking, Stevens argues that his theorising has, at the least, played an important heuristic role in developing our thinking about what it is to be human. In line with this thread of the narrative, the book concludes with an appendix of self-awareness exercises.
However, whilst Stevens is no mere apologist, his main purpose is to assess whether or not Freud's ideas have any continuing relevance for present times. This he does in the second part of the book, which explores the nature of psychoanalysis in relation to what it may mean to have knowledge of the human condition, and particularly with regard to creativity and psychotherapy. His view is that the grandeur of psychoanalysis derives from Freud's willingness to engage as widely as possible with the full range of human experience but that, equally, its shortcomings reflect a failure overtly to distinguish between different epistemologies required to encompass that range. He proposes that human nature needs to be understood within a tri-modal framework: a biological aspect that is amenable to the scientific method with which Freud was so keen to associate himself, and symbolic and reflexive aspects that can only be approached hermeneutically by an effort of interpretation. While continuing to express doubts as to the value of the individual elements of Freud's thinking, Stevens argues that his theorising has, at the least, played an important heuristic role in developing our thinking about what it is to be human. In line with this thread of the narrative, the book concludes with an appendix of self-awareness exercises.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one of the first books in a new series by Palgrave Macmillan - `Mind-Shapers: key psychologists and their impact' - and if the other books turn out to be half as good as this one, then I think we psychology lovers are in for a real treat.
Part one of the book provides an account of Freud's life, explains key concepts and theories such as the Freudian understanding of the unconscious, psychosexual development, psychodynamics and the development of psychoanalysis as therapy.
But it is in part two that things get really interesting. Stevens asks us the question: what kind of understanding is offered by psychoanalysis? For him, it is a theory which has both `integrative capacity' - it can connect the complex factors which lie behind an individual's personality - and it has hermeneutic power - it can help us to understand subjectivity in a creative and meaningful way. I particularly enjoyed the final chapter of this section, `The relevance of Freud today', which outlines a `trimodal framework' to aid our understanding of the human condition. Stevens suggests that there are three aspects of being - the biological, symbolic and reflexive. While the biological can be understood through the principles of natural science, the symbolic and the reflexive require different kinds of epistemologies, ones which focus on i) meaning and ii) potentiality - not just with what `is' - but with what `might be'.
The writing style is eloquent yet entertaining. But this is no fawning tribute to Freud and a good deal of the text, while sympathetic to Freud's approach, maintains a critical distance. There is also an interesting appendix which invites the reader to engage in some exercises in self-awareness. Stevens' unique take on Freud means that both the novice and the initiated will find something interesting and thought-provoking to take away from this volume.
Part one of the book provides an account of Freud's life, explains key concepts and theories such as the Freudian understanding of the unconscious, psychosexual development, psychodynamics and the development of psychoanalysis as therapy.
But it is in part two that things get really interesting. Stevens asks us the question: what kind of understanding is offered by psychoanalysis? For him, it is a theory which has both `integrative capacity' - it can connect the complex factors which lie behind an individual's personality - and it has hermeneutic power - it can help us to understand subjectivity in a creative and meaningful way. I particularly enjoyed the final chapter of this section, `The relevance of Freud today', which outlines a `trimodal framework' to aid our understanding of the human condition. Stevens suggests that there are three aspects of being - the biological, symbolic and reflexive. While the biological can be understood through the principles of natural science, the symbolic and the reflexive require different kinds of epistemologies, ones which focus on i) meaning and ii) potentiality - not just with what `is' - but with what `might be'.
The writing style is eloquent yet entertaining. But this is no fawning tribute to Freud and a good deal of the text, while sympathetic to Freud's approach, maintains a critical distance. There is also an interesting appendix which invites the reader to engage in some exercises in self-awareness. Stevens' unique take on Freud means that both the novice and the initiated will find something interesting and thought-provoking to take away from this volume.
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