Wittgenstein on Freud and Frazer

Abstract

What is it that troubles and preoccupies us about the anxieties and anguishes of social and private life? Have advances in the disciplines of psychoanalysis, psychology or the social sciences in general ministered to our needs in these areas? In this forcefully argued collection of essays, Frank Cioffi examines Wittgenstein's reflections on the comparative claims of clarification and empirical enquiry. Though writing out of admiration and indebtedness, he expresses reservations as to the limits Wittgenstein places on the relevance and desirability of empirical knowledge. His discusssions extend from Wittgenstein's reflections on human sacrifice and other ritual practices dealt with by Frazer to Freud's account of the sources of anxiety, depression, dreams and laughter. He asks both whether it is empirical investigation or more lucid reflection that these phenomena demand, and what kind of question this itself is.

Dissemination before evidence? What are the driving forces behind the dissemination of mindfulness‐based interventions?

“…Looking at the dissemination processes of two important psychotherapeutic approaches in the twentieth century, psychoanalysis and behavior therapy, there is an indication that “dissemination comes before evidence” also played a part in these approaches. Although Freud claimed that his theory was supported by scientific evidence, the empirical bases of Freudian psychoanalysis and related psychoanalytical systems at the beginning of the twentieth century were tenuous at best (Cioffi, 1998). Nonetheless, psychoanalysis flourished in Europe and the United States during this time period.…”

Rituals: Philosophical Perspectives and Normative Aspects

“…We do not use language only "descriptively" and different language games describe different social practices with their socially established rules (Wittgenstein). Rituals have nothing to do with knowledge about the outside world that is the prerogative of science (CIOFFI 1999). Along the lines of Wittgenstein, Peter Winch has applied a pluralistic view of language to social action study and the study of rituals.…”

Frazer strikes back from the armchair: a new search for the animist soul*

“…I do not intend to propose Frazer as an early predecessor of some ‘post‐modern mood’ the attitude of which is ‘to make deliberate play with context’ (Strathern 1987: 265). Biographers like Robert Ackerman (1987: 15, 100) and Downie (1970: 114) along with critics like Ludwig Wittgenstein (Cioffi 1998: 108) are clearly quite right in enlisting Frazer among the convinced and passionate empiricists. Indeed, it is worth quoting Frazer himself, routinely castigated for supposedly tearing cases out of context: ‘The first condition of a sound induction is exactly observation.…”