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Interpretation of latent, unconscious fully formed meanings remains at the heart of the analytic understanding and application of the treatment of neurotic organizations. However, clinical experience with patients whose difficulties lie beyond neurosis have taught us that in addition to a represented, dynamic unconscious there is an unstructured unconscious that consists of force, turbulence, sensations, drive movements and cathexes that have not yet reached the level of representation. This paper explores the understanding and use of the analyst’s interventions in the light of this expanded sense of the unrepresented unconscious. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We would like to examine two models conceived by W. R. Bion (1897–1979) and submit them to a re-reading as their relevance and the innovative scope which they enable in everyday treatment is becoming ever clearer to us: The concepts of »negative capability« and communicative components of »projective identification«, as developed by Bion. Both models shall then be considered in the light of psychoanalytical processes. In times such as these, when psychotherapy and, even more so, psychoanalysis, are faced with demands for efficiency, more rapid therapeutic results and undimmed calls for positivist ideals, the focus should be on one's own action, attitude and reflection on the form of psychoanalytical process. This creates an opportunity for us to hark back once again to tried and tested models, revive them or even develop them further. We can never disregard the unconscious aspect of interpersonal communication in the psychotherapeutic process. It is both elementary and inevitable. Psychotherapeutic relationships and treatment are thus subject to subtle unconscious processes which no instructions or manual could ever do justice to. The two models, as conceived by Bion, form the basis of interpersonal communication and can thus be considered complementary basic elements of psychoanalytical epistemology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we look at the metaphors of "mirror" and "light" in medieval vernacular literature to examine the influence of their semantics on the conceptualization of cognition. We argue that "mirror" and "light" are traditional means to express and to reflect cognitive processes. Speaking metaphorically is thus intimately related to understanding concepts in general but also allows the shaping as well as the trans mission of concepts. In support of our argument, we will, in the second part of this paper, carefully consider David von Augsburg's Spiegel der Tugend (Mirror of Virtue), which blends the metaphors "mirror" and "light" conceptually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the existence of the Journal of Psychology, we address the essential and persisting factors of the critique of psychology that has been smouldering since the criticism of science of the student movement. The central questions are why this critique has had little influence on the mainstream of psychological research and teaching and what the lasting success of mainstream psychology, which has been only slightly touched by this critique, grounds on. Within the context of the measures for quality assurance of science that currently shape the practice of academic research, »success« proves to be an ambivalent term. This holds true for strategies of dissemination, research documentation and public presentation of research outcomes. While discussing the currently restrictive conditions of research and teaching at the university, we also point out, to some extent, possible niches and alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most older, comparative studies of Sufism the term esoteric appears in addition to mystic, yet there is no theoretical justification for this. The following article aims to present a theoretical basis for the use of "esoteric" in the context of Sufism with the help of two models of Jan Assmann. The focus here is on the analysis of the structure of Sufi knowledge with reference to some classics of Sufiliterature. The theory of the twofold religion (religio duplex) of Assmann as well as his characterisation of the Alexandrian Hermetism both serve as heuristic models. The proposed approach to the study of Sufiepistemology further enables the analysis of the power that is constituted by that knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amongst the founders of occupational therapy, at the onset there was the insight that in case of illness or disability it is good to be active and to do something that possibly is personally important and meaningful. This idea evolved into the statement that man is an occupational being, saying that doing something is generally a basic need for each individual. With the emergence of occupational science, this hypothesis was supposed to become unfolded and generally confirmed by this discipline, aiming to be placed as universal knowledge within the circle of all sciences. However, right from the beginning of occupational therapy, it was not easy at all to explain the concept of human occupation. During its history, the profession has undertaken numerous attempts to describe and explain it in a clear and comprehensive manner. This text highlights the epistemological evolution of the concept of human occupation within the context of ongoing changes in the theory and practice of health and social care by contrasting the profession's paradigms with the most prevailing philosophical streaming. The discourse tries to draft a future perspective on epistemological and practical tendencies. The aim is to stimulate discussions inside the profession of occupational therapy about its future way, by clearly stating that there is a need for looking for and at ideas and theories from outside to let occupational therapy flourish in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delusion is a central but difficult and controversial term in psychiatry. Similar to the term schizophrenia at the nosological level, the basic questions in the specialty are linked in the debate on delusion at the clinical psychopathological level, beginning with epistemological and methodological aspects up to concrete embodiment of the physician-patient relationship. The text of this article reflects this development from the nineteenth century up to the present day and makes reference to the lively discussion on the future directions of psychiatric research triggered by the research domain criteria (RDoC). Under certain prerequisites, including in particular an extensive understanding of psychopathology, delusion is considered to be a reasonable scientific term, also in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I wish to propose a new doctrine called epistemological pacifism. According to the doctrine, our objective knowledge concerning hard facts about a given war and its context is far too poor to justify entering that war. Our best and most informative accounts of any pre-war situation are value-laden; the same is true of counterfactual claims about any event during, or after, war. Here we have three new types of what has been discussed under the label of fact/value entanglement. Realizing this helps us understand why pacifists and their opponents never agree about so-called facts. Both parties bring to bear different values in their descriptions. Although this is legitimate for both sides, the values of the pacifist are more attractive than those of the bellicist. The recent war in Mall is a case in point, as I'll sketch at the end of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last three decades research in the rhetoric of natural science has established itself as a prominent topic in the history of science, culture, and society. Despite this overall success, the status, function and place of rhetoric in the process of knowledge production is still ambivalent and disputed. While some scholars place rhetoric right in the centre of the construction of scientific knowledge, others support the view that scientific knowledge is epistemologically privileged. Based on research done by the prominent sociologist, philosopher, and historian Bruno Latour, the article argues that rhetoric plays a minimal role in the production of knowledge but is crucial in the dissemination and (successful) implementation of scientific results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many scholars explain the epistemological value of Heraclitus' λόγος by interpreting it as a rational or mathematical pattern, whose translations refer to the related semantic fields: e.g. 'law of thinking', 'proportion', 'formula of things'. Such meanings are not safely documented earlier than the philosophical language of the fourth century BC. From Homer until the end of the sixth century BC, ... means basically 'to collect' and 'to tell', λόγος means 'collection' and much more often 'speech', whereas 'speech' itself represents a 'collection of utterances (...). Maybe our common sense suggests that no speaking activity can affect the human understanding as Heraclitus' λόγος does. However, another archaic thinker, Parmenides, argues that 'names' and 'naming' mislead the opinions of human beings concerning natural phenomena. Furthermore, Heraclitus' epistemology conforms to the Grundbedeutung of λόγοςas 'collection of utterances' and consists in 'listening' (...) and 'putting together' (...), even grasping the secret 'joint' (...) of things. That is why I suggest to interpret λόγος according to the archaic, not philosophical meaning of the word, i.e. as 'speech'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]