OBJEKTRELATIONENS STRUKTUR, ETIK OG ÆSTETIK

Et forsøg på at placere Donald Meltzers psykoanalytiske tænkning

Abstract

The paper is an attempt to describe the location of Meltzer in the landscape of psychoanalytic theory as an original thinker in the Neo-kleinian tradition. The originality reveals itself in the conceptualisation of the clinical descriptions, and in his insisting on the importance of the aesthetic dimension in the conceptualisation of symbolformation in addition to the structural and ethical ones. The aesthetic dimension is basic to the understanding of thinking as emotional experience. It is essentially linked to the engagement and interest in life which makes it food for thought, and which transforms ‘events’ to ‘moments of experience’. The paper highlights ideas from several of Meltzer’s books. In the end, the paper looks into Meltzer’s critical voice against the instutionalization of psychoanalysis, and the impact of this on the formation of the psychoanalytic mind.