Romantic Science and the Experience of Self: Transatlantic Crosscurrents from William James to Oliver Sacks

Description

First published in 1999, this engaging interdisciplinary study of romantic science focuses on the work of five influential figures in twentieth-century transatlantic intellectual history. In this book, Martin Halliwell constructs an innovative tradition of romantic science by indicating points of theoretical and historical intersection in the thought of William James (American philosopher); Otto Rank (Austrian psychoanalyst); Ludwig Binswanger (Swiss psychiatrist); Erik Erikson (Danish/German psychologist); and Oliver Sacks (British neurologist). Beginning with the ferment of intellectual activity in late eighteenth-century German Romanticism, Halliwell argues that only with William James’ theory of pragmatism early in the twentieth century did romantic science become a viable counter-tradition to strictly empirical science. Stimulated by debates over rival models of consciousness and renewed interest in theories of the self, Halliwell reveals that in their challenge to Freud’s adoption of ideas from nineteenth-century natural science, these thinkers have enlarged the possibilities of romantic science for bridging the perceived gulf between the arts and sciences. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 2 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Original Title......Page 6 Original Copyright......Page 7 Contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 10 Introduction: The Possibilities of Romantic Science......Page 12 1 William James: The Pragmatic Romantic......Page 37 2 Otto Rank: The Creative Romantic......Page 81 3 Ludwig Binswanger: The Existential Romantic......Page 121 4 Erik Erikson: The Biographical Romantic......Page 167 5 Oliver Sacks: The Storytelling Romantic......Page 208 Conclusion: The Challenge of Romantic Science......Page 265 Bibliography......Page 270 Index......Page 288