ABSTRACT
Philosophy of mind has an impact on several aspects of psychoanalytic concern. Sigmund Freud's primary philosophical method is to carefully sustain an ambiguity in his description of mind by alternating between statements that describe mental activities in scientific terminology and statements that anthropomorphize mental agencies in a highly experimental language. The clarification of the mistranslation of the word "psyche" as "soul," is extremely important historically, because this is what makes it possible to appreciate Aristotle's distinctive achievements. The topic of Freud's epistemology is further covered by H. Hartmann, who summarizes the situation neatly in his pioneering comments on psychoanalysis and moral values. According to the dictionary epistemology is "a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods and limits of human knowledge". Rapaport in fact does so when he constructs his PhD thesis on the subject of philosophical contributions to the idea of mental association, matters that are part of his personal preparation for thinking about thinking psychoanalytically.
