Thesis outline: How can psychoanalysis and philosophy explain the psychological problem of rationalisation?
Nota:
What cannot be over-stressed is that while my thesis does deal with and is inspired by The Sopranos,
and would never come to fruition without The
Sopranos IT IS NOT A CULTURAL STUDIES WORK! It is a hybrid philosophical and psychoanalytic work on the problem of self-deception and the epistemological ramifications thereof using Tony’s self-deception as jumping off point. ‘Tony’s Problem’ provides the vision to which other questions follow and must be developed and spelled out. Thinkers as diverse as Thomas Sowell to Mary Midgley have discussed the notions of visions, but it is Sowell who brought to my attention the most appropriate conception of vision for this work
– economist Joseph Schumpeter definition of a ‘Vision’ as the ‘preanalytic cognitive act that supplies the raw material for the analytic effort.’ ‘Tony’s
Problem’ provided the inspiration for the ‘raw material’ – to use philosopher Stephen Kinsella’s highly evocative phrase ‘It lit my brain on fire’, while my thesis is the ‘analytic effort’, the hard work to turn the vision into a concrete, coherent and choate work.
3. Winnicottian analysis of Tony
Soprano
Nota:
What does Winnicott say about Tony's self-deception?
D.W. Winnicott
'True self' versus 'False self'
Tony's flawed world view is a result of his 'compliance'
Dr Melfi
"IT'S LESS HURTFUL TO BELIEVE THAT THEY WERE RIGHT TO TRY AND DESTROY YOU THAN TO ACCEPT
THE FACT THAT SHE DIDN'T VALUE YOU."
Tony's Problem
We are obviously dealing with BELIEFS
Tony Soprano
An example of self-deception in ACTION
His failure as an analysand is also a MORAL FAILING
How is it linked to his life as a gangster?
What does this say about PA as a science if it descriptive as well as normative?
It is HIS fault not Dr Melfi's or PA's!
The greatest TV character of ALL time!
The greatest TV show of ALL time!
An unforgettably and unsurpassably epic portrayal of the fragility of human flourishing
THE KING!
THE FRAGILITY OF HUMAN FLOURISHING
2. Anti-reductionism
Nota:
Where does PA fit in the intellectual landscape?
2.1 Mary
Midgley
Austrian Economics - non-reductionist social science
Mises
Rothbard
'The Mantle Of Science'
'Human Action'
Friedrich Hayek
Reality has many layers - THERE IS NO BOTTOM LINE!
The irreducible need for SELF-KNOWLEDGE!
Again this links philosophy + PA
2.2 Complexity theory?!?!
Rom Harre?
2.2 Michael
Polanyi?
Might be a good way to bridge 'hard' and 'soft'
Boundary conditions
A gifted anti-reductionist scientist *AND* philosopher