Kantian foundations of Freudian Psychoanalysis and the place of metapsychology in the development of psychoanalysis

Abstract

This study intends to show that Freuds references to Kant do not refer to specifi c points or themes, but that Freud constructed psychoanalysis in an effort to elaborate a scientific psychology following Kants a priori research program for natural sciences. This program not only objectifi ed psychism, such as any other matter strange to human beings, making it natural, but also proposed that this subject be researched with the help of specific heuristic fictions - particularly those that characterize the supposition of forces in conflict, from the dynamic point of view - which, fi nally, characterize meta-psychological theorization in psychoanalysis. Such a perspective raises the question of the future of post - Freudian psychoanalysis; given that Kantian philosophical ground has suffered severe criticisms with the development of post-Kantian philosophy.