Personal Relations Theory

Personal relationships concern us all, they are essential to our becoming who we are and constitute our most vital experience of what it is like to be alive and human. This book proposes a new approach to understanding who we are based on the work of Ronald Fairbairn, John Macmurray and Ian Suttie, whose ideas provide a positive perspective on our future collective possibilities.

Personal Relations Theory presents a new and comprehensive account of Fairbairn''s mature theory. Part I provides a thorough overview of Fairbairn''s work and its ramifications for our understanding of creativity and the nature of inner reality. Part II covers Fairbairn''s relationship to Macmurray and Suttie, and their relevance to realist philosophy, the scientific status of psychoanalysis, attachment theory and the politics of the personal relations view point. Subjects discussed in depth include:

• Internal objects and inner reality: Fairbairn and Klein
• Fairbairn''s theory of art in the light of his mature model of mind
• The preconscious and psychic change in Fairbairn''s model of mind
• The politics of attachment theory and personal relations theory: Fairbairn, Suttie and Bowlby

The combination of Fairbairn, Macmurray and Suttie presented here forms an original strand of object relations theory, which has implications and consequences for a wide spectrum of concerns. This book will be of value to anyone interested in psychoanalysis, especially in relation to politics, society and the arts.