Fiction, Theory and “Historical Truth”: Adler versus Freud
Does fiction have a function in the elaboration of theory in psychoanalysis? Under what conditions can we consider the fantasies, symptoms and delusions of patients as fictions? To think about these questions, we return to Adler’s dissent from psychoanalysis from the specific angle of his concept of “fiction” associated with Vaihinger philosophy of “As if”. From a methodological point of view, we consider the dissenting theory as capable of shedding light, as a negative, on the epistemological issues posed to psychoanalysis by the relationship between fiction and theory, on the one hand, fiction and subject on the other hand. By studying Freud’s discussion of Adler’s theses and the philosophy of as-if, we bring out the importance of the link between fiction and “historical truth” in distinguishing psychoanalysis from the imaginary impasses to which Adler’s concept of fiction leads.
Keywords
- fiction
- unconscious
- theory
- Freud
- Adler
- historical truth