A Philosophical Critique of the Relational Movement: A Review of Psychoanalysis Beyond the End of Metaphysics: Thinking Towards the Post-Relational by Robin S. Brown. New York, NY: Routledge, 2017. 142 pp.

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Notes

1 Although relatively short (107 pages of text), Brown's book is dense. He is well-read in both relational psychoanalysis and postmodern and continental philosophy and offers support for his views from multiple thinkers within both disciplines. Due to the constraints of space, many nuanced points of interest will unfortunately be neglected in this review.

2 Positivism is an epistemological position whereas materialism is a metaphysical position. Metaphysics (what is real?) is closely related to epistemology (how can we know?), and their relationship is often difficult to distinguish. Questions about what the world is like (a metaphysical question) are immediately followed by questions about how we can derive such knowledge (an epistemological question). Conversely, questions of how we can know things often depend on what kinds of things are there.

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Notes on contributors

Tyson Davis

Tyson Davis, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice and an analytic candidate at the Institute for Relational Psychoanalysis of Philadelphia (IRPP). He studied both music and philosophy before continuing his education in relational psychoanalysis. In addition to his work with adults and couples, his professional interests include exploring the relationship between theory and practice within relational psychoanalysis.