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Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
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What If There Is an Ethical Dimension in Psychoanalysis?

W.W. Meissner, S.J.

Boston College St. Mary's Hall Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-3806, meissner{at}bc.edu

The implications of an ethical dimension in psychoanalysis are explored, together with the questions whether and in what sense analysis has anything to contribute to ethical reflection, and whether and in what sense ethical considerations can play a role in analytic theory and process. As regards theory, analytic construction of an ethical agent would require a refocusing of structural and dynamic considerations in order to provide an integrative source of decision-making capacity to serve as the responsible agent in ethical deliberation, choice, and action. Suggestions are made for formulating the nature of the ethical agent in terms of a theory of motivation rather than of drive, and in terms of an integrative theory of the self. To the extent that analysis involves ethical considerations, the way lies open for dialogue and mutually enriching contributions of analysis to ethics and vice versa. Various aspects of the analytic perspective are explored that in themselves carry ethical implications or can be enriched by ethical reflection. Beyond theoretical considerations, the interaction between ethical factors and genetic, structural, and dynamic issues in clinical psychoanalysis loom as matters for future exploration.

Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Vol. 55, No. 2, 541-569 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/00030651070550021101
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