Consider a poem as the literary critic reads it; consider the language of an analysand as the psychoanalyst hears it. The tasks of the professionals are similar: to interpret the linguistic, symbolic data at hand. In "Language and Interpretation in Psychoanalysis," Marshall Edelson explores the linguistics of Chomsky, showing the congruence between Chomsky and Freud, and comparing linguistic interpretations in the psychoanalytic situation with interpretations of a Bach prelude and Wallace Stevens's poem "The Snow Man."

A scholar, psychologist, physician, and experienced psychoanalyst, Marshall Edelson is uniquely qualified to respond to questions about the scientific status of psychoanalysis. He has written this book both for psychoanalysts and for philosophers of science, intending to bridge gaps in communication between them. It is also a book for anyone interested in the nature of psychoanalytic knowledge.

Edelson and Berg use stories to present, reflect on and learn from experience. They contrast the stories we tell about individuals and interpersonal interactions and those we tell about groups and organizations, and when we most usefully tell which kind of story. The authors deplore the tendency to rely on individual psychology for understanding problems in groups or organizations and so, emphasizing the psychopathology of individuals, to blame them for what is going on. Their stories are about conflicts between individual and group, and how these affect the formation of a group and what it's...