ABSTRACT
The authors describe the critical analysis, examining some additional shortcomings of the Perls theory of the Self, shortcomings that are a consequence of their strict conception of the Self as a non-structural phenomenon unfolding in time. It shows that the Perls conception of the Self, based as it is on a biological foundation, might be adequate for certain simple situations but fails when applied to complex human interactions. Consistently with the biological framework, the functions of the Self are manifested in a similar temporal pattern: Id, Ego, Personality, in that order. The vision of psychic life has a certain conceptual coherence within a biological framework. The conception of psychic life clearly derives from the authors' implicit biological framework: there is a clear intention to ground the realities of psychic life in an irreducible organic foundation in which there is a natural movement of contact and withdrawal.
