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

by Martin Halliwell

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317244042
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/31/2016
Series:	Routledge Library Editions: Romanticism
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	294
File size:	748 KB

About the Author

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Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction: The Possibilities of Romantic Science; 1. William James: The Pragmatic Romantic 2. Otto Rank: The Creative Romantic 3. Ludwig Binswanger: The Existential Romantic 4. Erik Erikson: The Biographical Romantic 5. Oliver Sacks: The Storytelling Romantic; Conclusion: The Challenge of Romantic Science; Bibliography; Index

Editorial Reviews

From the preface: "Romantic science is essentially an idealistic and humanistic tradition which tries to reconnect the narrow sphere of clinical observation with the broader realities of lived experience." Halliwell (English and American studies, De Montfort U., Leicester) looks at five influential figures in 20th-century intellectual history <-->James, Sacks, Otto Rand, Ludwig Binswanger, and Erik Erikson<-- >showing a tradition of romantic science that runs counter to strictly empirical science, and tying its concerns to renewed interest in theories of the self and recent debates over rival models of consciousness. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

’Martin Halliwell has here marked out for our consideration a small but potent group of twentieth-century psychological theorists/practitioners whose ’romantic science’ sought to reconcile and heal modernity’s dualistic fractures, particularly the separation between art and science, and between knowledge and morality.’ Wilfred M. McClay, SunTrust Professor of Humanities, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga '[Halliwell] addresses the way in which healers regard and interact with patients in historical and cultural context, making this book worth of a place in medical education generally, as well as in cultural history and psychiatry... this is a book for which many readers - clinicians and patients, teachers and students, historians and philosophers - will give thanks for years to come.' Bull. Hist. Med. 'Martin Halliwell [frames] the development of the self as a theoretical construct within twentieth-century humanities... he exposes both the creative tensions and the inexorable weakness inherent to this intrinsically hybrid tradition.' Hist. Phil. Life Sci.

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