Hermeneutics And The History Of Psychoanalysis And The Contemporary Fusion

This dissertation comprehensively and systematically combs and expatiates the relationship between hermeneutics and psychoanalysis, as well as clearly and completely opens up to readers the confluence of the both in their historical development, which includes two parts:(1) to concretely analysis it in the view of hermeneuticists’reading and reflecting psychoanalysis, in particular discussing the views of Ricoeur and Habermas;(2) to illuminate the tendency and characteristic of hermeneutics manifesting in the development of psychoanalysis, investigating it in a subtle way from these representative figures like Freud, Horney, Jung and Binswanger. On that basis, the fusion of hermeneutics and psychoanalysis in the contemporary era, namely hermeneutic psychoanalysis as a common orientation, is explored further. To begin with, the viewpoints of some predecessors such as Rank and Lacan and some representative figures such as Klein, Schafer, Spence, Viderman, Loch and Fingarette, are summarized respectively. Meanwhile, the fundamental theoretical framework of hermeneutic psychoanalysis, which embraces basic ideas, central conceptions, theoretical model, and theoretical characteristics, are deciphered and constructed, and the actual therapeutical cases demonstrate its therapeutical features. Eventually, hermeneutic psychoanalysis is appraised from the two aspects of its advantages and disadvantages, and its future is anticipated.Hermeneutic psychoanalysts consider psychoanalysis as a form of hermeneutics, and think that it doesn’t deal with the facts which can be explained, but explores the meanings which can be attained only through understanding. They see the patients’ dreams, associations, parapraxes and so on as the "texts" which they created, and search for the meanings by means of interpretation, so as to cure the patients.These psychoanalysts turn to the approach of hermeneutics, in order to develop a new method by which they can prove the methodological criticism directed towards psychoanalysis is wrong, because Freud thought he had elaborated a theory about the causes of human behavior which were formerly unknown, and he misunderstood psychoanalysis as a natural science. However, the hermeneutic psychoanalysts regard psychoanalysis as a hermeneutic enterprise, therefore they commit themselves to exploring the meaning structures and narrative coherence, which can avoid the criticisms raised against the unverifiability of psychoanalytic propositions. However, in the course of promoting the "hermeneutic enterprise", some scholars think the relationship between hermeneutics and psychoanalysis as diametrically opposed, and propose a lot of radical views, which will give rise to the possibility of hermeneutic psychoanalysis falling into the danger of subjectivism and relativism. The situation not only provokes criticism, but also hermeneutic psychoanalysts’attention and reflection. About how to defuse the danger and really lead psychoanalysis out of the difficulties, more in-depth quest is required in practice.