ABSTRACT
Sandler has here grasped the essence of Bion’s enterprise in creating a psychoanalytic theory that was not only based on clinical observation but also included metaphysical concepts: literally, the metaphysical concept of the hypothesis of a breast or penis: in Plato’s terms archetypal Ideal Forms, essences, or in Kant’s terms, noumena or things-in-themselves—that is, not sensible to perception. The breast and the penis are the sought-for links to important objects—mother and father, respectively. Violent emotions constitute the passions of caring about the unpredictable caprices of needed objects, one of the reactions against which would be splitting. The capacity of the mind depends on the capacity of unconscious negative capability, the capacity to bear negativity and withstand its persuasions to abandon a task. Inability to tolerate empty space limits the amount of space available.
