Using Jacques Lacan's work as a key, this groundbreaking work reassesses the philosophical significance of Freud's most ambitious general theory of mental functioning: metapsychology.

Using Jacques Lacan's work as a key, Boothby reassesses Freud's most ambitious-and misunderstood-attempt at a general theory of mental functioning: metapsychology

"...provides an extensive discussion of Freud's Nachtraglichkeit, deferred action, whereby an event becomes meaningful or traumatic as a result of subsequent associations. Boothby explains Freud's theory by comparing it to the views of James, Bergson, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and of Gestalt psychology. This volume succeeds as an explication of Freud and Lacan...Large public collections and upper-division undergraduates through faculty. Choice June 2002.""Many have tried to uncover the philosophical underpinnings of Freudian psychoanalysis, but none has succeeded so convincingly as does Richard Boothby in Freud as Philosopher. Boothby finds in the concept of the dispositional field--discovered and refined by such diverse figures as Monet, Husserl, and Merleau-Ponty--a way of redeeming Freudian energetics by placing it on a secure philosophical basis that is equally relevant to perception, image, and word. This remarkably insightful thesis is brilliantly and lucidly argued in a book that will make a permanent difference in all future readings of Freud and Lacan." -- Edward Casey, State University of New York at Stony Brook"A book all those seriously interested in Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan were waiting for-- rejecting the usual mixture of Cultural Studies pseudo-critical variations which lack the elementary conceptual stringency, Boothby reads Freud and Lacan through Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and other key modern philosophers, restoring the Freudian metapsychology to its philosophical dignity. It is in books like this that we should look for the renaissance of the American thought! If the term 'classic' has any meaning today, Freud as Philosopher is it!" -- Slavoj Zizek"Richard Boothby's evident mastery of both the Freudian and Lacanian corpora is incredibly impressive. The weaving together of various published and unpublished texts by original as well as secondary sources with Boothby's own insights makes this an exciting, indeed brilliant work that will have a definitive impact on how psychoanalysis is conceived in relationship to philosophy." -- Gail Weiss, author of Body Images: Embodiment as Incorporeality"A book all those seriously interested in Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan were waiting for-- rejecting the usual mixture of Cultural Studies pseudo-critical variations which lack the elementary conceptual stringency, Boothby reads Freud and Lacan through Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and other key modern philosophers, restoring the Freudian metapsychology to its philosophical dignity. It is in books like this that we should look for the renaissance of American thought! If the term 'classic' has any meaning today, Freud as Philosopher is it!" -- Slavoj Zizek"Boothby does deserve credit for making Lacan more accessible and helping non-Lacanians to appreciate his philosophical contribution... Boothby's book will be useful for anyone who has interests in the intersection between philosophy and psychoanalysis." -- Elliot Jurist, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, May 7, 2002"Boothby generates not only a fresh undersanding of psychoanalytic theory, but also his own original contribution to the philosophy of psychoanalysis. Scholar of religion will find this book important for its acute review of theories of religious sacrifice from Tylor tto Bataille and its original and compelling revision of these theories." -- Religious Studies Review"Boothby generates not only a fresh undersanding of psychoanalytic theory, but also his own original contribution to the philosophy of psychoanalysis. Scholars of religion will find this book important for its acute review of theories of religious sacrifice from Tylor tto Bataille and its original and compelling revision of these theories." -- Religious Studies Review