Epistemological foundations of Adlerian theory

Abstract

The reflections proposed here aim to provide some clarification regarding the apparent antithesis between key concepts in Freudian and Adlerian theories. First of all, Freudian psychic determinism, which in reality takes into account a past that is always a “past relived” in the present, therefore the difference is more at the level of therapeutic practice, as the Adlerian approach works more in a finalistic key. Another difference can be found in the different conceptions of psychological scientificity: mechanomorphism for Freudians, anthropomorphism for Adlerians. In reality, both theories show oscillations sometimes towards mechanomorphism (e.g., acceptance of the postulate of biopsychic unity by Adlerians), sometimes towards anthropomorphism (e.g., acceptance of theoretical categories such as the unconscious, transference, complex, resistance, etc. by Freudians). Finally, the concept of subjectivism: in Freud, there is a greater emphasis on the unconscious, while in Adler, the unconscious is the area of the psyche where all processes that are not perceived by the conscious mind take place and are often in conflict with it