Philosophy and psychoanalysis

The course will introduce you to classical psychoanalytic theory, including Freud’s theory of sexuality and the technique of dream interpretation (“the royal road to the unconscious”), to revisions in the work of other psychoanalysts, including Melanie Klein and Jacques Lacan, and to philosophers who seem to have influenced Freud, including Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. We will also look at philosophical criticisms of psychoanalysis, including those of the philosophy of science and those of post-modern theory. Other thinkers discussed on the course may include Popper, Marcuse, Deleuze and Guattari.