Free association as an epistemic method

Abstract

AbstractWhat sort of clinical evidence can free association provide? Can it be characterized without presupposing Freud's controversial metaphysics? This essay claims that free association aims for entirely open and spontaneous expression. The emphasis on expression contrasts with Freud's own emphasis on dispassionate self‐observation. So conceived, the method of free association is here argued to be epistemically valuable in two interestingly different ways. Firstly, it can enable recognition of certain long‐standing patterns in the analysand's emotional and desiderative life, which are called concerns. Secondly, and more distinctively, since such an extreme degree of open, spontaneous expression will often be difficult to begin or will break down unexpectedly, the method enables recognition of ways in which an analysand's moral education has suppressed and re‐shaped those concerns.