PSYCHOANALYSIS, EPISTEMOLOGY AND INTERSUBJECTIVITY - THEORIES OF BION,WILFRED

The inference to other minds by analogy with one's own is unconvincing , yet all our social interactions assume we can identify others' belie fs and intentions. The problem is acute for psychoanalysis as it is es pecially concerned with unconscious mental processes. W.R. Bion offere d recommendations for true psychoanalytic knowledge, and concepts such as projective identification and counter-transference are related. Bi on's special study was of psychotic thought. His explanation of its un derlying mechanism was in terms of a breakdown in cognitive processing at the transition from sensory impressions to conceptual thought, an epistemology familiar in academic processing theories. Conceptual diff iculties in such theories are discussed. It is argued that realistic e pistemology escapes them and can embrace psychotic thought.