Abstract
In this article I attempt to demonstrate the relevance of the philosophy of time to psychiatric, psychological and psychoanalytic theories of development and therapeutic action. I choose to explore and analyse the writings of Martin Heidegger, arguably the twentieth century’s pre-eminent philosopher of time. I then develop links between his philosophy and Freudian theories of time, and in particular Freud’s notion of Nachtraglichkeit, as advanced in the writings of Andre Green and Jacques Derrida. I conclude by advancing a range of temporal concepts that may be employed in the analysis of developmental theories and clinical approaches. In an accompanying article I undertake such an analysis, relating in particular to borderline conditions.
Highlights
Time, or temporality, permeates all aspects of our work as clinicians working in the fields of psychotherapy, psychiatry and psychology
I intend to undertake such an analysis through an exploration of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, arguably the twentieth century’s pre-eminent philosopher of time, going on to explore the affinities his philosophy has with Freudian psychoanalytic theories of time, traces of which are found in Freud’s original corpus of work, but were analysed or advanced more fully by psychoanalyst André Green and philosopher Jacques Derrida
Heidegger (1959-1969) himself critically responded to this and elaborated what are some of the philosophical difficulties in building a systematic clinical approach from his own philosophical approach, which is concerned with different questions to do with broader philosophical domains such as ontology, phenomenology and hermeneutics
Summary
Time, or temporality, permeates all aspects of our work as clinicians working in the fields of psychotherapy, psychiatry and psychology. Heidegger’s own methodology was developed from two disciplines: the first being hermeneutics (loosely, the study of methods of interpretation, originally of scripture and other texts, but broadened to any form of human actions, utterances or practices amenable to understanding); and the second being phenomenology (loosely the study of one’s immediate perceptions and experiences) His early principle work Being and Time (1928) was the beginning part of an enormous project aimed at a general theory of Being. It is not the place to explore the relationship between Kant’s transcendental philosophy and Heidegger’s fundamental ontology any further so much as to point out that for Heidegger the hermeneutic circle simultaneously refers to selfunderstanding (the phenomenology of self-interpretation) and philosophical understanding (interpreting Being evolving through the history of philosophy) Both relate to thinking about Being through interpretation and approaching this through what is present phenomenologically and not objectively. This begins with individuals and their own situation, or situatedness
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