ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses continuing relevance of Heinz Hartmann's thought to the major currents of contemporary change in psychoanalysis that seem to diverge greatly from all that he apparently stood for. Especially to be emphasized is the critics' glaring neglect of Hartmann's fundamental point that adaptation includes "fitting in" as only one possibility. This approach emphasizes equally making efforts to change one's situation or leaving that situation for others. The structural and psychoeconomic emphases came together in Hartmann's theorizing of the ego as the organ of adaptation and of its ego functions characterized by their greater or lesser autonomy from drives. The theoretical and empirical moves were inevitable consequences of Hartmann's having recognized that all of psychoanalytic theory had to be situated in the context of modern adaptational biology. Consequently, universal propositions are now approached with suspicion as to their implicitly sponsoring or reinforcing prevailing distributions of power and values.
