Paul Johnston
@wittfreud.bsky.social
Avid Wittgensteinian with a strong interest in psychoanalysis.
Pinned
Paul Johnston
@wittfreud.bsky.social
· Mar 26
Wittgenstein and Freud: Overrated or Undervalued?
Ludwig Wittgenstein and Sigmund Freud have a lot in common. Both were Viennese gurus, who inspired groups of disciples to preach their world-changing revelations to a sceptical world. Both were for…
wittgensteinfreud.blog
Wittgenstein and Freud were very different Viennese gurus. Both wanted to revolutionise the fields they worked in. Which one do you think has best stood the test of time or do you think both deserve to be forgotten? wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/03/26/w...
Wittgenstein and Freud were very different Viennese gurus. Both wanted to revolutionise the fields they worked in. Which one do you think has best stood the test of time or do you think both deserve to be forgotten? wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/03/26/w...
Wittgenstein and Freud: Overrated or Undervalued?
Ludwig Wittgenstein and Sigmund Freud have a lot in common. Both were Viennese gurus, who inspired groups of disciples to preach their world-changing revelations to a sceptical world. Both were for…
wittgensteinfreud.blog
March 26, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Wittgenstein and Freud were very different Viennese gurus. Both wanted to revolutionise the fields they worked in. Which one do you think has best stood the test of time or do you think both deserve to be forgotten? wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/03/26/w...
Wittgenstein talks a lot about the rules of our language games, but he also talks a lot about gestures. How do these two aspects of his thought fit together? Through his recognition of the musicality of language. wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/03/19/h...
How is that we can speak about and share our “indescribable” feelings?
Sometimes we find it difficult to express our feelings. They seem almost impossible to put into words. “I cannot describe it to you, you would need to experience it yourself”. But perhaps we should…
wittgensteinfreud.blog
March 21, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Wittgenstein talks a lot about the rules of our language games, but he also talks a lot about gestures. How do these two aspects of his thought fit together? Through his recognition of the musicality of language. wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/03/19/h...
Have you ever felt at one with the world? Freud was sceptical about this “oceanic” feeling & tried to explain it away. But people do manage to share such intensely personal feelings & experiences. How is this possible? wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/03/19/h...
How is that we can speak about and share our “indescribable” feelings?
Sometimes we find it difficult to express our feelings. They seem almost impossible to put into words. “I cannot describe it to you, you would need to experience it yourself”. But perhaps we should…
wittgensteinfreud.blog
March 20, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Have you ever felt at one with the world? Freud was sceptical about this “oceanic” feeling & tried to explain it away. But people do manage to share such intensely personal feelings & experiences. How is this possible? wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/03/19/h...
What's love got to do with it? Freud focuses on the sex drive and seems to leave little room for altruistic love and tenderness. Ian Suttie sought to rectify this in a powerful critique published nearly 100 years ago. A fascinatingly different perspective. wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/02/19/p...
Putting Love at the Heart of Psychoanalysis: Suttie’s Critique of Freud
Ian Dishart Suttie was a Scottish psychoanalyst who died in 1935, shortly after completing a powerful critique of Freud, entitled The Origins of Love and Hate. Whereas Freud presents the individual…
wittgensteinfreud.blog
February 19, 2025 at 3:47 PM
What's love got to do with it? Freud focuses on the sex drive and seems to leave little room for altruistic love and tenderness. Ian Suttie sought to rectify this in a powerful critique published nearly 100 years ago. A fascinatingly different perspective. wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/02/19/p...
A lot of scientific studies suggest that processes take place in the mind that we are not consciously aware of. Does this provide empirical evidence for psychoanalysis? No, the real justification for Freud's concept of the unconscious is not of this kind. wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/02/06/i...
Is Science Providing Evidence for Freud’s Concept of the Unconscious?
In the face of attacks on the validity of psychoanalysis, it is tempting to argue that science and especially neurology is providing empirical evidence that Freud was right. Scientific evidence for…
wittgensteinfreud.blog
February 6, 2025 at 10:14 AM
A lot of scientific studies suggest that processes take place in the mind that we are not consciously aware of. Does this provide empirical evidence for psychoanalysis? No, the real justification for Freud's concept of the unconscious is not of this kind. wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/02/06/i...
AI is going great guns, so surely the Turing test has been well and truly passed? Isn't it just a matter of time before we have to accept that computers can think? Perhaps, it is not that clear. Or do you worry that ChatGPT might get lonely if you don't use it? wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/01/30/h...
How will we know when the Singularity occurs?
Elon Musk has predicted that the Singularity – the moment when computers become more intelligent than humans – could occur as soon as 2029. But how will we know that this has happened? …
wittgensteinfreud.blog
February 4, 2025 at 8:16 AM
AI is going great guns, so surely the Turing test has been well and truly passed? Isn't it just a matter of time before we have to accept that computers can think? Perhaps, it is not that clear. Or do you worry that ChatGPT might get lonely if you don't use it? wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/01/30/h...
Elon Musk thinks the Singularity might occur in 2029, but how will we know when it occurs? How we will know if machines really are conscious? wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/01/30/h...
How will we know when the Singularity occurs?
Elon Musk has predicted that the Singularity – the moment when computers become more intelligent than humans – could occur as soon as 2029. But how will we know that this has happened? …
wittgensteinfreud.blog
January 30, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Elon Musk thinks the Singularity might occur in 2029, but how will we know when it occurs? How we will know if machines really are conscious? wittgensteinfreud.blog/2025/01/30/h...