ABSTRACT
Over recent decades, the work of the Hungarian psychoanalyst Sándor Ferenczi has been rediscovered and the importance of his ideas has been acknowledged. However, he is remembered mainly for his technical innovations and his reflections on trauma, even though his work contains many other different contributions. A sophisticated epistemological and metapsychological theory can be found in his writings, which is as yet little studied and appreciated. It is a theory that goes beyond Freud and allows for a deeper understanding of mental processes and the possibility of knowledge itself. This article aimed to analyze and discuss Ferenczi’s hypotheses on the development of the sense of reality as they are elaborated in 'O desenvolvimento do sentido de realidade e seus estágios' (1913) and 'O problema da afirmação do desprazer' (1926). It is demonstrated how Ferenczi further develops Freud’s hypotheses on the transition from the pleasure principle to the reality principle. He argues, in an original manner, that self-destruction is the condition for knowledge, thus enriching metapsychological views and the understanding of fundamental mental processes as well.
Keywords:
Sandór Ferenczi; psychoanalytic theory; metapsychology