Dialogue with Erik Erikson

187 Pages·1995·14.04 MB·English

by  Richard E. Evans

DIALOGUE
WITH
ERIK
ERIKSON

DIALOGUE
WITH
ERIK
ERIKSON
WITH
REACTIONS FROM
ERNEST JONES
Richard I.
Evans
A JASON ARONSON BOOK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham o Boulder o New York o Toronto o Plymouth. UK
A JASON ARONSON BOOK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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Copyright © 1964, 1967, 1981 by Richard I. Evans
First softcover edition 1995
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Evans, Richard I. (Richard Isadore), 1922-
Dialogue with Erik Erikson I by Richard I. Evans.
p. em.
Originally published: New York : Praeger Publishers, 1964.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56821-561-4 (softcover : alk. paper)
I. Erikson, Erik H. (Erik Homburger), 1902-
2. Psychoanalysis. I. Title
BF109.E7E9 1995
150.19'5'092-dc20 95-14657
Printed in the United States of America
e
..T.. he paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO 239.48-1992.
To my lovely wife and children
Foreword
Since the publication of the first edition of this book, the wisdom of
Erik Erikson's focus on psycho-social development through all the
stages oflife-span development into maturity is even more pronounced.
For example, the special problems of aging and of identity-particu­
larly as highlighted by the leaders of the woman's movement-are
provided as a useful theoretical framework by Erikson's ideas presented
in this volume. The continuing concern with problems of youth, be­
comes particularly meaningful in terms of Erikson's conception of the
"identity crisis."
Most importantly, Erik Erikson has posited a model of human
development that has become increasingly important to behavioral
and social scientists in exploring almost every issue in contemporary
society, even among those who are less psychodynamically oriented
than he is. His approach to psychohistory is becoming of interest to
many disciplines outside of the behavioral and social sciences.
;
The lucidity of Erikson s ideas as presented in the first edition of
this volume led to substantial interest in it. This new edition will pro­
vide an opportunity for an additional readership to share many of
Erikson's major ideas through a spontaneous dialogue.
As a fascinating study in contrast, this volume includes a somewhat
briefer dialogue with the British psychiatrist Ernest Jones. In Paris, at
an International Psychoanalysis Meeting in August 1957, just prior to
his death, I was fortunate to complete these dialogues with Dr. Jones,
Freud's loyal supporter, friend, and biographer. A penetrating thinker
in his own right-as reflected, for example, in his intriguing analyses
of Shakespeare's works-Jones remained to the end a biologically
oriented, orthodox psychoanalyst who, in the absence of Sigmund
Freud himself, can be regarded as a formidable spokesperson for
Freud.
Professor Erikson departs from Freud's focus on a biologically
vi I
deterministic, psycho-sexual analysis of human development. Erikson
focuses more on social and cultural determinants of behavior with his
psycho-social model of human development.
Unlike many of the so-called neo-Freudians, such as Karen Horney
and Abram Kardiner, who became in many respects cultural determin­
ists, Erikson maintains a finely tuned balance between the importance
of the orthodox psychoanalytic view of psycho-sexual development
and his particular integration of cultural and social influences in his
stages of psycho-social development. As can be perceived in the dia­
logue with Dr. Jones-who unflinchingly states that man is after all an
animal whose behavior must be examined in terms of more biologically
programmed impulses-his view leaves very little room even for the
more modest culturally deterministic view of Erikson. Yet interestingly
enough, with the advent of the socio-biologists and their insistence on
the importance of genetic programming in human behavior, Jones'
views at times seem more viable today than they might have in 1957
when we completed this dialogue.
I am pleased to reprint this dialogue, which was originally unobtru­
sively presented as part of an earlier volume, Conversations with Carl
lung.
vii I
Acknowledgments
In the long process involved in filming and �aping the
dialogues with Erik H. Erikson and transcribing, editing,
and integrating them into the present volume, I am in­
debted to a great many individuals. Though space pro­
hibits mentioning everyone who so kindly assisted in this
venture, I wish to express my appreciation to at least some
of these individuals.
The skill and imagination of psychology graduate stu­
dents Judith Woodard and Martha Frede are significantly
reflected in this volume, and for their efforts during the
early stages of preparation of this volume I am most
grateful.
Thanks are also due to psychology graduate student
Peter Leppmann for his assistance in the final editing of
the manuscript which in particular included the integra­
tion of Erikson's reactions to the first draft, and the impor­
tant details connected with developing and checking out
the bibliography.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the University of
Houston for permission to utilize the printed texts of the
filmed and taped dialogue. Mr. James Bauer of the Uni-
vi/ii
·
Acknowledgments
versity of Houston, who functioned in the demanding role
of technical director for the taping and filming sessions,
should also be mentioned among those who have greatly
assisted me.
At several points in the project we were fortunate to
have the services of some able secretaries. In this respect I
wish to express my thanks to Mmes. Ellen Roberson and
Carolyn Ramirez for their preliminary work on the manu­
script and to Mrs. Peggy Leppmann, who with great
patience and care handled the demanding chore of pre­
paring the final form of the manuscript.
I am grateful for the support from the National Science
Foundation, without which this project could not have
been implemented.
Finally, the wonderful cooperation of Professor Erik H.
Erikson canon t be emphasized enough. Not only was he
wilil ng to participate in the filming and taping sessions
which ar.e involved in this project, but in spite of his
extremely busy schedule, he was willing to edit and even
in some instances amend the text of the material in
printed form, so that this volume would not suffer in the
transition from film and sound to print.
/Uc.