Exploring the Life of the Soul

Philosophical Reflections on Psychoanalysis and Self Psychology

By (author) John Hanwell Riker

Publication date:

03 February 2017

Length of book:

194 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781498543903

In this book, John Hanwell Riker develops and expands the conceptual framework of self psychology in order to offer contemporary readers a naturalistic ground for adopting an ethical way of being in the world. Riker stresses the need to find a balance between mature narcissism and ethics, to address and understand differences among people, and to reconceive social justice as based on the development of individual self. This book is recommend for readers interested in psychology and philosophy, and for those who wonder what it means to be human in the modern age.

Introduction: Psychoanalysis, Self Psychology, and the Humanistic Tradition
Chapter 1: Knowledge in Psychoanalysis: Can There Be a Science of Subjectivity?
Chapter 2: The Life of the Soul
Chapter 3: Subjectivity, the Ego, and the Self
Chapter 4: The Erotic Self: Freud, Kohut, and Plato
Chapter 5: Ancient Theology and Contemporary Self Psychology: Monotheism, Mono-Selfism, and the Transgressions of Omnipotence
Chapter 6: Emerson and Kohut: the Self in Relation to Nature
Chapter 7: Self Psychology, Ethics, and Modern Society
Chapter 8: Self Psychology and the Problem of the Other
Chapter 9: What Do Humans Need to Be Human: Economic Society, Self Psychology and the Problem of Social Justice
Chapter 10: Self Psychology and Historical Explanation: The Death of God and the Birth of Impressionism—Forms and Transformations of Narcissism in the Nineteenth Century
Conclusion

Philosopher John Riker argues for a notion of central and ethical selfhood brought to life in self-psychological psychoanalysis. This inspiring and accessible book will be a treasured resource for therapists and patients seeking meaning in their struggles to be human and to be good.