Free Association and Expressive Limitations on Patients in Psychoanalysis: A View from the Philosophy of Language

Simon Evnine (University of Miami)

Abstract:

I shall examine the activity of free association in psychoanalysis from the perspective of two major theories in the philosophy of language: speech act theory, developed by J.L. Austin, and the theory of conversational implicature, introduced by Paul Grice. I shall argue that, surprisingly, what these theories reveal is that patients engaged in free association face certain limitations on their self-expression through language.