The Symbolic Function: Psychoanalysis and the Philosophy of Language - Softcover

"Professor Fiumara appropriately stresses the crucial importance of the interpersonal relations which lie at the heart of language and the development of thought. She has a full appreciation of the pervasive influence of language in the evolution of an individual's intellectual and emotional skills, habits, strengths and failings. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory and practice, she urges a more dynamic and flexible approach to language than has always been apparent in the writings of some philosophers in the analytic tradition." Donald Davidson "This thoughtful book brings a disciplined yet imaginative approach to issues of mind and emotion usually treated by intuitive means alone. It is also one of the best treatments of psychoanalytic ideas by a philosopher that has yet been written. I strongly recommend it." Jerome Brunner

Drawing on an impressive knowledge of contemporary philosophy of language, psychoanalysis, hermeneutics and linguistics, Gemma Corradi Fiumara argues that the human use of symbols is not a purely cognitive function but an interactive one. Human communication is both something developed in the head and in the world. The symbolic function is thus a productive sphere of enquiry for the development of our understanding of human language and emotion.