N Symington’s scientific contributions

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Publications (1)


The possibility of human freedom and its transmission (with particular reference to the thought of Bion)
  • Article

February 1990

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28 Reads

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45 Citations

The International Journal of Psychoanalysis

N Symington

In this paper I examine where Bion's theory of freedom fits within the traditional philosophical debate. I claim that the notion of freedom is the organizing centre of Bion's thought and that the traditional debate has focused with too great a concentration upon the will. I propose that underlying the workings of the will there is a fundamental substratum. This is governed either by the reaction model or by the response model. Freedom is coextensive with the latter mode of functioning but not with the former. The traditional debate needs to take this layer of personality functioning into account.

Citations (1)


... A fundamental difficulty that therapists experience when dealing with adhesive identification is how to respond to the patient (Symington 1990, Rüth 2022. This is because the absence of an inner space entails that the patient cannot be "visited". ...

Reference:

Adhesive Identification -revisited
The possibility of human freedom and its transmission (with particular reference to the thought of Bion)
  • Citing Article
  • February 1990

The International Journal of Psychoanalysis