ABSTRACT

I have included this article, written with Judy Tame Wall, as it clearly speaks of Laing and psychoanalysis. I think it is not possible to really consider postmodernism unless one has some understanding of psychoanalysis. While Freud’s totalising theories are to be avoided as generalisations, his early works can at least be read phenomenologically, which one might trace to his attending – as Husserl also did – Brentano’s lectures on descriptive psychology. Similarly, one might see the influence of phenomenology, as well as structural linguistics and so on, in the work of Lacan. While Lacan again ends up providing an anti-phenomenological totalising system, he can nevertheless usefully come to mind at times when working with clients.