Psychoanalysis, religion, philosophy and the possibility for dialogue: Freud, Binswanger and Pfister

Abstract

This article considers the longstanding disciplinary tensions between psychoanalysis, religion, and philosophy. It argues for a cross-disciplinary understanding of human experience by examining the relationship of Sigmund Freud to his two Swiss colleagues, Ludwig Binswanger and Oskar Pfister. In contrast to Freud's avowed atheism and pronounced ambivalence on philosophy, Binswanger and Pfister both professed a strong religious sensibility and philosophical outlook. The article juxtaposes their theoretical divergences on religion and philosophy with personal interactions and correspondence. The relationship of Freud to Binswanger and Pfister is instructive for understanding the historical and contemporary interaction of psychoanalytic theory and practice with other disciplines and diverse viewpoints. The dialogical spirit that connects the three protagonists constitutes a critical engagement with learning and is essential to psychoanalysis today.

Keywords:

• religion
• atheism
• philosophy
• hermeneutics
• dialogue
• love

Notes

¹I draw whenever possible on existing English translations of Binswanger and Pfister. However, many of their works remain untranslated, and existing translations are sometimes imprecise. When necessary, I have altered translations to provide more precise meanings, and have provided my own translations of previously untranslated works.

²Freud's stance had a lasting effect on the field of psychoanalysis. The separation of psychoanalysis from the humanities in general, and philosophy in particular, has been particularly pronounced within the North American context, where classical psychoanalysis was historically allied with the medical model. By contrast, psychoanalysis in continental Europe has tended to be more open to philosophy, not least because the emergence of Lacan and post-Lacanian psychoanalysis, so prevalent in France and South America today, is heavily indebted to philosophy.

³Pfister's essay was reissued in translation in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis in 1993 (Pfister, 1993). I refer to the original (Pfister, 1928) publication in my discussion.

⁴Binswanger was protestant but of Jewish background. Binswanger's grandfather was Jewish and moved from Bavaria to Switzerland because he had been prohibited from setting up a sanatorium due to his involvement in the 1848 uprisings. Around 1870, he converted to Protestantism. Freud presumably knew of Binswanger's Jewish heritage. See Herzog (1994).