Polemics and Play: Reflections on Cooper and the Development Tilt

ABSTRACT

I discuss Steven Cooper’s (this issue) scholarly and original elaborations on Winnicott’s theory of play, the ontological turn in psychoanalysis, and his posthumous conversation with Stephen Mitchell on the Developmental Tilt. While deeply appreciative of Cooper’s project and insights, I suggest that Mitchell’s paper is more polemic than precise, geared principally toward an elaboration of the early relational position. I compare and contrast Mitchell, Winnicott, and Cooper’s aims and strategies, reflecting on areas of agreement and disagreement. Finally, I focus on the evolution and dialectics of intellectual thought in psychoanalysis, querying how contemporary theories can reach new synthesis, integrating the rich descriptions of “individual” models with the insights of cultural studies, in order to meet this current moment of social crises and change.

This article refers to:

Donald Winnicott and Stephen Mitchell’s Developmental Tilt Hypothesis Reconsidered

View responses to this article:

The Collision between Comparative Theory and Dialectical Thinking: Response to Benjamin, Schwartz Cooney, and Swartz

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amy Schwartz Cooney

Amy Schwartz Cooney, Ph.D., is on Faculty at the NYU Post-Doctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy and is on the Board and Faculty of the National Institute for the Psychotherapies (NIP), as well as the faculty of the Stephen Mitchell Center for Relational Studies. She is Joint Editor in Chief of Psychoanalytic Dialogues and is in private practice in New York City.