Abstract

FONTES, Flávio Fernandes  and  SALES, André Luis Leite de Figueirêdo. What is the epistemological place of psychoanalysis?. Psicol. rev. (Belo Horizonte) [online]. 2020, vol.26, n.2, pp.760-775. ISSN 1677-1168.  https://doi.org/10.5752/P.1678-9563.2020v26n2p760-775.

An epistemological position is analyzed and named as Theory of the Absolute Epistemological Uniqueness of Psychoanalysis (TAEUP). It consists of the idea that psychoanalysis is not a species of any genre – it is not science, not philosophy, not art, etc. There are different reasons to justify TAEUP: 1) the discovery of a new object in the history of knowledge: the unconscious; 2) the invention of a new method: free association; 3) the invention of a new method of knowledge production: metapsychology. We carry out a critical examination of these arguments, from the perspective of Critical Freud Studies, concluding that none of the above reasons is enough to claim TAEUP. In light of a critical Freudian studies perspective, through a critical exam of these justifications, it can be concluded that none of the above reasons is sustained. Finally, we propose a different picture: psychoanalysis should not be conceived as a genderless species, but as a species belonging to several genres.

Keywords : Critical Freud studies; Epistemology; Criticism.

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