Events and Seminars

Event:The Place From Which We Know: A Response to the “Ontological” Turn In Psychoanalysis
Venue:Online
Date:16/05/2025
Duration:10:30pm - 12am BST / 6:30 - 8pm EDT
Extra Info:With Hannah Wallerstein, PhD, FABP

This presentation will address the recent shift towards was has been termed an “ontological” approach to psychoanalysis (Ogden 2019), in which experiencing and becoming oneself more fully are seen as the goals of treatment, with the generation of knowledge taking a back seat. Through a close reading of Bion and Winnicott it will argue against the dichotomization of knowing and being that is often implicit in this framework. Rather than privileging one over the other, it will propose that both Bion and Winnicott view knowing is inextricably bound up with being, given the object psychoanalysis is attempting to know and to reach. This has consequences for how we work, and helps protect against the idealization of experiencing and other trends than can arise within the “ontological” analysis literature. A case example will be used to illustrate.
Organised By:Austen Riggs Center
Web Link:https://education.austenriggs.org/content/place-which-we-know-response-%E2%80%9Contological%E2%80%9D-turn-psychoanalysis-hannah-wallerstein-phd-fabp
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