The Elusive Human Subject: A Psychoanalytical Theory of Subject Relations

Through a detailed examination of a whole range of theoretical ideas and the use of clinical illustrations, the author shows the way in which the subjective organization both arises and is impaired; how unity is maintained but also undermined. The essential role of social structive in the subjective organization is discussed, and comparisons made with object relations theory. Finally, detailed consideration is given to the role of the psychoanalyst's subjectivity and of the human element in psychoanalysis. In this book, in which Roger Kennedy has marshalled theory and ideas from psychoanalysis, philosophy and the social sciences, he succeeds in a major re-evaluation of how we describe the Self, and what that means for psychoanalysis.