BROWNING, MARGARET. (2019). 'Our symbolic minds: what are they really?' Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 88, 1, 25-52.

摘要

Margaret Browning's article 'Our symbolic minds: what are they really?' offers a fine example of well-executed multidisciplinary psychoanalytic research. The article welds psychoanalytic clinical theory, recent brain research and substantive philosophy into a potent and coherent argument, including valuable clinical implications. Perhaps the most striking premise of Browning's argument is that 'consciousness' or 'subjectivity' is not primarily or originally cognitive but affective. This basic affective relationship to the world, Browning argues, though common to all mammals, takes on a unique form in human beings because it is also the source of objectifying symbol systems, such as language and culture. Consequently, a focus on affect is central to psychoanalytic practice.