In the last 15 years there has been a change in direction in our understanding of Wittgenstein; the 'resolute' reading of him places great emphasis on his therapeutic intent and argues that the aim of Wittgenstein's thought is to show how language functions. This book argues that this is highly relevant to understanding psychotherapy.
Ludwig Wittgenstein has captured the popular imagination as the modern Socrates. He is considered the master of enigmatic logic. He is a fascinating and attractive icon of modernism. His Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, a glacier of logic, and the somewhat friendlier Philosophical Investigations have baffled some and are considered too daunting by many. Here is an accessible guide to the man who prized poetry over philosophy; a tormented soul who thrived on jokes and crime fiction; a man who inherited a fortune and gave it all away, who sought death in the trenches of World War I; a loner who inspired lifelong friendships.
Wittgenstein and Psychoanalysis brings these two great, enormously influential Viennese thinkers together in the arena of a postmodern encounter. The question at issue is―which of these two philosophies is the better form of relevant therapy for us today?
Using the work of Wittgenstein, John Heaton challenges the notion of theoretical expertise on the mind, arguing for a new understanding of therapy as an attempt by patients to express themselves in an effort to see and say what has not been said or seen, and accept that the world is not as fixed as they are constituting it.