{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T01:49:00Z","timestamp":1777427340434,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[1999,4,1]],"date-time":"1999-04-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":922924800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Am Psychoanal Assoc"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1999,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The current status of psychoanalysis is explored in the light of the postmodern critique of forms of knowledge. Analysts have tended to respond by redefining psychoanalysis in the language of the exact sciences or by finding a language that includes both (Kuhn, Rorty), thereby falling either into a reductive \u201cscientism\u201d or the fallacies of the \u201cstrong program\u201d in postmodern thought. However, psychoanalytic theories do not meet the probative requirements of science. Neither is the serious problem of competing theories and interpretations adequately addressed by hermeneutics. Philosophical realism (Putnam 1981, 1988) offers some helpful ways to look at this problem. Following Lacan, we define psychoanalysis as a clinical discipline which has as its unique object of study the human subject, an indeterminate and language dependent entity. Concepts and rules specific to our field make an internal realism of psychoanalytic inquiry possible. An extended case vignette accompanies this philosophical discussion.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/00030651990470021401","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2008,4,29]],"date-time":"2008-04-29T13:58:32Z","timestamp":1209477512000},"page":"445-463","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Toward a Postmodern Realism for Psychoanalysis"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"47","author":[{"given":"Lewis A.","family":"Kirshner","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Boston Psychoanalytic Institute; Associate Clinical Professor, Harvard Medical School,"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1999,4,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"356","DOI":"10.1177\/000306519504300204","volume":"43","author":"Boesky, D.","year":"1995","journal-title":"Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association"},{"key":"atypb2","first-page":"533","volume":"76","author":"Bouchard, M.","year":"1995","journal-title":"International Journal of Psycho-Analysis"},{"key":"atypb3","first-page":"519","volume":"76","author":"Brook, A.","year":"1995","journal-title":"International Journal of Psycho-Analysis"},{"key":"atypb4","first-page":"358","volume":"49","author":"Colby, K.M.","year":"1961","journal-title":"American Scientist"},{"key":"atypb5","volume-title":"Essays on Actions and Events","author":"Davidson, D.","year":"1980"},{"key":"atypb6","volume-title":"Knowledge and Human Interests, transl. 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