Changes

"Hard [[sciences]]" are those disposing of a [[theory ]] of measurement. The [[development ]] of qualitative [[mathematics]], since the middle of the 19th century, and its diverse applications have made this description questionable.By the [[time ]] he was thirty, [[Freud ]] was a brilliant researcher in the field of [[natural ]] [[science]], well-versed in neuro-anatomy and neuro-[[physiology]], in addition to having done some [[work ]] in [[chemistry]]. At the laboratory of Brücke (1876-1882) he acquired an expertise in chemistry and [[physics]], including thermodynamics (Helmholtz). As to [[epistemology]], Freud, besides his familiarity with the [[German ]] positivist [[school ]] and the debates it carried on with [[Vienna ]] (Brentano, Manch, Bolzmann), attended, for two years, Brentano's [[seminar ]] on [[Aristotle]].In his [[writing]], Freud refers little to the hard sciences as such. He uses the German [[system ]] of classification: sciences of [[nature ]] and of [[mind]], situating [[psychoanalysis ]] among the former, while insisting that it is relevant to "almost all the sciences of the mind" (1924f). There was one exception: "Strictly [[speaking]], there are only two sciences: [[psychology]], pure and applied, and [[natural science]]" (1933a, p. 179). Freud was frankly ironic [[about ]] [[official ]] sciences, assuming, moreover, the following [[position]]: "[[Scientific ]] [[thinking ]] does not differ in its nature from the normal [[activity ]] of [[thought]], which all of us, believers and unbelievers, employ in [[looking ]] after our affairs in ordinary [[life]]" (1933a, p. 170).The [[relationship ]] between chemistry and psychoanalysis was formed early on—the former lent some of its prestige to the latter, signifying that the scientific method was common to both of [[them ]] Freud, and Freud hoped that chemistry would isolate the toxins linked to [[sexuality ]] and [[neuroses]]. The contribution of thermodynamics to his [[dynamic ]] and [[economic ]] point of view was evident also; his use of the [[terms ]] "free [[energy]]" and "[[bound energy]]" makes this clear. Considerations of [[stability]], carried over from Fechner, equally played a part. At a time when psychoanalysis was still unsure of its foundation, Freud defended the theory of the [[drives ]] by noting that physics also was unsure of its foundations. Accordingly, he placed the discoveries of [[Copernicus ]] and [[Darwin]], and his own, on the same plane, for having dealt blows to [[human ]] [[narcissism ]] and [[religious ]] convictions. Finally, a [[nostalgia ]] for energetics surfaced when he evoked the "quantitative factor," decisive for symptomatology, yet unattainable."[[Analysts ]] . . . cannot repudiate their descent from exact science and their [[community ]] with its representatives. . . . Instead of waiting for the [[moment ]] when they will be able to escape from the constraint of the familiar laws of physics and chemistry, they hope for the emergence of more extensive and deeper-reaching natural laws, to which they are ready to submit" (1941d [1921], p. 178-79). Qualitative dynamics, which reinterprets thermodynamics, may prove to be a part of this hoped-for emergence.

# [[Freud, Sigmund]]. (1924f). A short account of psychoanalysis. SE, 19: 189-209.# ——. (1933a [1932]). New introductory lectures on [[psycho]]-[[analysis]]. SE, 22: 1-182.# ——. (1941d [1921]. Psycho-analysis and [[telepathy]]. SE, 18: 173-193.# [[Lacan]], Jacques. (2002).Écrits: A selection ([[Bruce Fink]], Trans.). New York: W.W. Norton