Man’s Inhumanity to Man: Confrontations and Prejudice

ABSTRACT

Confrontations involving conflicts between groups and nations are discussed in relation to similar confrontations that take place between patient and analyst in the consulting room. Many such confrontations are based on prejudice in which unwanted elements are projected into the other person and attacked there. Freud’s ideas on the narcissism of minor difference and his discussion of bemächtigungs trieb are raised as a help in the understanding the problem. Finally it is argued that there are limits to the role of understanding and that a capacity to make judgments is critical in recognizing our limitations.

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Notes on contributors

John Steiner

Dr. John Steiner is a member of the British Psychoanalytical Society.