On Heidegger’s Sofa: Some Remarks on Psychotherapy from Historical and Philosophical Points of View

Abstract

Our starting point in this article is that the question of the essence of psychotherapy has to some extent been neglected. Its medical context has strengthened the tendency to interpret psychotherapy in general from a technical and overtly rationalistic standpoint. Instead, we would underline the importance of the philosophical and historical roots of all psychotherapies. In our view, it is imperative to acknowledge the antirationalistic underpinnings that have always informed the discipline. We show how speculative mysticism and the late philosophy of Martin Heidegger have proved to be indispensable tools in setting psychotherapies in their philosophical and historical context. Robert Stolorow has also recently emphasised that Heidegger's philosophy in Time and Being can be used to both understand and develop thinking in psychotherapies. We find it surprising that Heidegger's late philosophy has not previously been considered a promising standpoint for theoretical research and show how Heidegger's concepts of twofold thinking and Gelassenheit are useful conceptual tools in understanding various dimensions of psychotherapies.

The philosophical and historical context of Bion's concept of reverie and its use as a rhetorical act in his theory of psychoanalysis

“…I felt throughout my whole being the most ravishing calm, to which, on recollection, I can find nothing comparable among our most active and distinguished pleasures. (Rousseau, 1782) To understand Rousseau's highly idiosyncratic account, both its form and content, we need to bear in mind Rousseau's personal situation during its preparation over the years 1776-78. By that time, almost all Rousseau's social, political and scientific aspirations had come to a dead end.…”

“…This remains to be sought. (Rousseau, 1782) Thus, while Reveries starts with an expression of immense disappointment in human brotherhood, at the same time, and more importantly, it gives a new meaning to reverie. It no longer refers to delirious talk, or religious exaltation.…”

“…Heidegger, instead of accepting the concept as such, redefined it. For him, Gelassenheit refers to being open to the world, without intention or compulsion, waiting to see how the world both opens and conceals itself (Sampolahti & Laitila, 2020). A passage from the medieval mystical text Theologia Germanica movingly illustrates Heidegger's understanding of the two modes of thinking and their relationship with each other.…”

“…Sometimes my reveries end in meditation, but more frequently my meditations convert to reveries and during these wanderings my soul fleets lightly over the universe on the wings of imagination, wrapped with ecstasies which surpass every other enjoyment. (Rousseau, 1782). Thus, Rousseau sees two alternative ways of positioning oneself in the world.…”

“…Heidegger, instead of accepting the concept as such, redefined it. For him, Gelassenheit refers to being open to the world, without intention or compulsion, waiting to see how the world both opens and conceals itself (Sampolahti & Laitila, 2020). A passage from the medieval mystical text Theologia Germanica movingly illustrates Heidegger's understanding of the two modes of thinking and their relationship with each other.

But these two eyes of the soul of man cannot both perform their work at once; but if the soul shall see with the right eye into eternity, then the left eye must close itself and refrain from working and be as though it were dead.

…”