ABSTRACT
In its broad mandate, the whole world of mind is the subject of psychoanalysis, and analysts usually pick their favorite continent to colonize. I do not know another theorist who, like Lichtenberg, has been drawn to the full scope of analytic inquiry (which gives his unique publication, Psychoanalytic Inquiry, its right to the title). And, more significantly, this is not the result of a grandiose ambition to punch in on every question – to cover the waterfront, so to speak – but rather because he has been successively entranced by each question that leads outward from each problem, and is happily blessed with the required freshness, stamina, and enthusiasm to pursue it (with energy left over to promote the imagination of colleagues and students). Because he is involved so deeply in each component question, his syntheses have more plausibility than we find in the sort of impatient synthesis that looks first to the grand summary, and commissions the steps that will lead up to it. For the same reason, the horizons he explores are not selected by animus; he doesn’t choose one avenue in order to shut down another. Because of its richness and fidelity to experience at each level, his model will, I think, be usable even by analysts who are wedded to their own style. They may highlight certain facets of his model, experimenting with his insights in various combinations, just as he responds to different saliencies in his patient. (For example, analysts who like his way of blending general themes with momentary urgencies may try out their own ratios of large dramas vs. particular sub-programs. Or they may put more emphasis on the interplay between systems, preserving a “defense” orientation while still heeding Lichtenberg’s principle of equal respect for the specific needs, strains, and satisfactions in each system.)
