The myth of the economic hypothesis : an examination of Wittgenstein’s critique of psychoanalysis

Abstract

This work examines the complex relation between psychoanalysis and science in light of Freud’s insistence that he is engaging in natural science. This thesis argues that psychoanalysis is not a natural science, and attempts, through Wittgenstein’s examination of concepts like the unconscious and the symptom, to understand what kind of science psychoanalysis is. Instead of examining Freudian psychoanalytic assumptions and measuring them against the standard of the scientific method, we will attempt to bring forth and examine the kind of assumptions that are in play when people pose the question of what kind of science is psychoanalysis, and understand the contribution psychoanalysis had on scientific progress in general.