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Toward Bion's starting point: between catastrophe and faith
The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis
|January 1, 1985
Summary
This study explores Wilfred Bion's concepts of catastrophe and faith, revealing faith as a fundamental response to existential catastrophe. It examines how these ideas deepen the understanding of selfhood and origins.
Area of Science:
- Psychoanalysis
- Psychology
- Philosophy
Background:
- Wilfred Bion's work is foundational in psychoanalysis.
- Existing Kleinian concepts are re-examined through Bion's lens.
- Catastrophe and faith are identified as core tenets in Bion's theoretical framework.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the fundamental concepts of catastrophe and faith in Bion's psychoanalytic theory.
- To demonstrate how Bion's ideas expand upon Kleinian concepts regarding the phenomenology of origins.
- To discuss the intricate relationship between faith, knowledge, and the container-contained model in response to catastrophe.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual analysis of Bion's psychoanalytic writings.
- Comparative examination of Bion's and Kleinian theories.
- Phenomenological exploration of the self's evolution and dissolution.
Main Results:
- Catastrophe is presented as an elemental aspect of human existence and self-development.
- Faith emerges as a primordial and developed response to catastrophic experiences.
- Bion's framework offers a deeper phenomenological understanding of origins and the self.
Conclusions:
- Catastrophe is integral to the birth, evolution, and dissolution of the self.
- Faith is a crucial, developed response to existential catastrophe.
- The paper elucidates the interplay between faith, knowledge, and the container-contained dynamic within Bion's theory.