ABSTRACT
W. R. D. Fairbairn brought an original voice and formulation to psychoanalysis. It has been suggested that the extent of Fairbairn's contribution has been largely unrecognised because he worked in relative isolation in Edinburgh, Scotland from the 1920s until his death in 1964. Although Fairbairn provided a new paradigm for the twentieth century, one which ultimately organised the ensuing development of psychoanalysis, only a few analysts recognised this at the time he was writing. Fairbairn brought to his own writing a careful study of S. Freud's major contributions and a dedication to logical thought derived from his training in philosophy. Fairbairn's philosophical roots sprang from his extensive studies in the Department of Mental Philosophy, undertaken as his first degree at Edinburgh University before his medical studies. A fuller understanding of the philosophical origin of Fairbairn's contribution allows us to locate psychoanalysis as an integrated discipline within the mainstream of twentieth-century thought.
