Showing papers by "Wilfred R. Bion published in 2000"
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01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: The theory that the infant has an inborn disposition corresponding to an expectation of a breast may be used to supply a model as mentioned in this paper, and the derived hypotheses that are intended to admit of empirical test, and to a lesser extent the theoretical system itself, bear the same relationship to the observed facts in a psycho-analysis as statements of applied mathematics, say about a mathematical circle, bear to a statement about a circle drawn upon paper.
Abstract: The derived hypotheses that are intended to admit of empirical test, and to a lesser extent the theoretical system itself, bear the same relationship to the observed facts in a psycho-analysis as statements of applied mathematics, say about a mathematical circle, bear to a statement about a circle drawn upon paper. Psycho-analytically the theory that the infant has an inborn disposition corresponding to an expectation of a breast may be used to supply a model. Mathematical elements, namely straight lines, points, circles, and something corresponding to what later become known by the name of numbers, derive from realizations of two-ness as in breast and infant, two eyes and two feet. The pre-conceptual apparatus is adequate to realizations that fall in the narrow range of circumstances suitable for the survival of the infant. One circumstance that affects survival is the personality of the infant himself. The primitive infant procedure undergoes various vicissitudes, including debasement through hypertrophy of omnipotent phantasy.
899 citations