Robert D Stolorow - The Power of Phenomenology: Psychoanalytic and Philosophical Perspectives

The idea for this book took form when we realized that a single theme has run through the course of our nearly half-century-long collaboration like a red threadnamely, the power of phenomenological inquiry and understanding in a wide range of contexts. We have experienced the power of phenomenology in our therapeutic work with patients, especially those struggling with horrific trauma; in our encounters with psychological and philosophical theories; and in our efforts to comprehend destructive ideologies and the collective traumas that give rise to them. This book presents the trajectory of this work.

Each chapter begins with a contribution written by one or both of us, extending the power of phenomenological inquiry to one or more of these diverse contexts. These contributions are followed, one or two at a time, by a dialogue between us, illustrating the dialectical process of our long collaboration. Our hope is that this unusual format will help bring the phenomenology of our collaborative efforts to life for the reader.

Ten of the 12 essays were taken from previously published work. first appeared in The American Journal of Psychoanalysis (2017, 77, 399405) and is reprinted by permission of Palgrave MacMillan. We thank the editors and publishers of these articles and chapters for their permission to reuse this work.

We are deeply grateful to Liz Atwood and Julia Schwartz for their unfailing support and encouragement during some very difficult times for all of us.

It has gradually become clear to me what every great philosophy has heretofore been: a confession on the part of its author and a kind of involuntary and unconscious memoir.

(Friedrich Nietzsche, 1886, section 6, p. 203)

In what follows, we tell the story of two love affairs with philosophyfirst, George Atwoods, and second, Robert Stolorows. We also describe the interaction of our respective philosophical journeys in our collaborative studies over the last four decades. Our goal in giving this account is to reflect on the deepest assumptions of the phenomenological-contextualist theory to which our shared efforts have led us. Again and again, we have been led to the inseparability of theoretical thought and the life in which it emerges.

I found philosophy at the age of 16 when I ran across a little book on pragmatism, a work that summarized aspects of the thinking of William James, Charles Sanders Pierce, and John Dewey. I cannot say that I found the ideas in this book terribly exciting in themselves, but I was able to understand them well enough, and there was something about the nature of the thinking described that was utterly entrancing to my young mind. I had discovered philosophy, a field of thought that seemed to be devoted to searching for the ultimate meaning of life and for the universal principles according to which one can and should live. It had not previously occurred to me that such an interesting realm of study even existed.