Two Sides of the Same Coin: Finding Common Roots in Husserlian Phenomenology and Freudian Psychoanalysis

Phenomenology and psychoanalysis, two of the most prominent accounts of subjectivity, may, at first, appear as if they are opposites, but the impression that phenomenology and psychoanalysis are antithetical can be transformed when both the frameworks are looked at closely enough. Divergences between psychoanalysis and phenomenology have concealed, profound agreement in the subject matter, approach, and methods of these two schools of psychology. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to refurbish and elaborate a preliminary outline of conceptual correspondences between Husserl's Phenomenology and Freud's Psychoanalysis. Elucidating the convergences of Psychoanalysis with Husserl's well-developed phenomenological tradition can be of immense potential salience to psychoanalysts and the anthropological analyses of subjectivity. In exploring how Husserl's rendering of psychology enhances or alters our understanding of Psychoanalysis, we encounter this dialogue unfolding.