Monday 12 January 2009

‘May you live to 120!’ 6. von Hildebrand. 7. Marcel. Inner Circle Seminar 147 (6 December 2009)



Dietrich von Hildebrand
‘May you live to 120!’

Seven thinkers born in 1889
and their relevance to psychotherapy

6. Dietrich von Hildebrand

(12 October 1889 – 26 January 1977 )

Gabriel Marcel
7. Gabriel Marcel
(7 December 1889 – 8
October 1973)

Anthony Stadlen
conducts
Inner Circle Seminar No. 147

Sunday 6 December 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.


Reflection on the philosophy of psychotherapy is an urgent necessity. The survival of true psychotherapy is threatened by state regulation. Too few psychotherapists have insisted that ‘mental health’ is a metaphor. It is therefore not surprising that the Government plans to regulate psychotherapy as a ‘health profession’. The Inner Circle Seminars, however, seek to clarify psychotherapy as a moral, not a medical, practice.

In the annus mirabilis 1889 seven of the greatest 20th-century philosophers were born: R. G. Collingwood, Watsuji Tetsuro, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Oskar Becker, Martin Heidegger, Dietrich von Hildebrand, Gabriel Marcel. In four seminars, we explore their contributions. All seven throw light on the nature of human relationships and, explicitly or implicitly, on the foundations of psychotherapy. Today we discuss the implications for psychotherapy of the thinking of two Christian existential phenomenologists: Dietrich von Hildebrand on love and Gabriel Marcel on dialogue. Each seminar is self-contained. You may attend any or all. Your contribution to the discussion is welcome.

Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ


Cost: Students £108, others £135; some bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included

Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail: stadlen@aol.com

For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/

The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.

Sunday 11 January 2009

Shibboleth: 100 Years of the ‘Oedipus Complex’. Inner Circle Seminar 146 (22 November 2009)

Sándor Ferenczi
 Ernest Jones

Shibboleth

Oedipus and Hamlet
100 Years of the ‘Oedipus Complex’


Anthony Stadlen
conducts Inner Circle Seminar No. 146
Sunday 22 November 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.


In an 1897 letter to Wilhelm Fließ, Sigmund Freud proposed his interpretation of Sophocles’s Oedipus the King and extended it to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He developed these ideas in The Interpretation of Dreams (1900). In November 1910, he first published the term ‘Oedipus complex’. And, in a 1920 footnote to Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), he wrote: 
‘Every new human being is set the task of mastering the Oedipus complex; anyone who fails to do so falls prey to neurosis. The advance of psychoanalytic work has delineated this meaning of the Oedipus complex ever more sharply; its recognition has become the shibboleth* that separates the devotees of psycho-analysis from its opponents.’
(*In the Bible, those who could not say ‘shibboleth’ were killed.)
But the first to use the term ‘Oedipus complex’ in print were Sándor Ferenczi in ‘Introjection and Transference’ (November 1909) and Ernest Jones in ‘The Oedipus-Complex as an Explanation of Hamlet’s Mystery’ (January 1910).
100 years on, we examine the hypothesis of the ‘Oedipus complex’ and its use to ‘explain’ Hamlet. We repeat the question the philosopher Sidney Hook asked 50 years ago:
‘What kind of evidence are psychoanalysts prepared to accept which would lead them to declare in any specific case that a child did not have an Oedipus complex?’
And we ask: Is it possible to be neither a ‘devotee’ nor an ‘opponent’ of psychoanalysis?

Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ
Cost: Students £108, others £135; some bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail: stadlen@aol.com

For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/
The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.

Dr Johnson on ‘Madness’. Inner Circle Seminar 145 (8 November 2009)


Samuel Johnson
Dr Johnson on ‘Madness’

An Inner Circle Seminar in Dr Samuel Johnson’s London house to celebrate the 300th anniversary of his birth and to develop his existential thinking on ‘madness’

Anthony Stadlen
conducts Inner Circle Seminar No. 145
Sunday 8 November 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.


Dr Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784) feared going mad, and was often thought by others to be mad. But his profound existential thinking on what is called ‘madness’ is of great relevance to psychotherapists and others today. For this seminar we have the exclusive use for the day of Dr Johnson’s wonderful house in Gough Square, London, including his Withdrawing Room and Dictionary Garret, where he worked on his great dictionary and other writings and conversed with a motley array of London characters, including his ‘very fine cat’, Hodge. Here, where one can still feel his presence, we shall sit in the rooms where he conversed and pick up the threads of his conversation where he left off. For lunch we shall, as he often did, repair to the neighbouring inn, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, where Johnson’s favourite seat is marked, as is Dickens’s.

Venue: Dr Johnson’s House, 17 Gough Square, London EC4A 3DE
Cost: Students £108, others £135, in advance; some bursaries; including morning coffee and afternoon tea and cakes; excluding lunch
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail:
stadlen@aol.com

For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/

The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.

Saturday 10 January 2009

Szasz in the 21st Century. 7. Coercion as Cure (2007). Inner Circle Seminar 144 (25 October 2009)


Thomas Szasz
Photograph by Steve Peters
Syracuse NY, April 2008
Thomas Szasz
in the 21st Century

7. Coercion as Cure:
A Critical History of Psychiatry
(2007)

Anthony Stadlen
conducts Inner Circle Seminar No. 144
Sunday 25 October 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m
 
Reflection on the philosophy of psychotherapy is an urgent necessity. Too few psychotherapists have insisted, with Thomas Szasz, that ‘mental health’ is a metaphor. It is therefore not surprising that the Government plans to regulate psychotherapy as a ‘health profession’. The Inner Circle Seminars, however, seek to clarify psychotherapy as a moral, not a medical, practice.

Thomas Szasz remains the world’s foremost moral and existential philosopher of psychiatry and psychotherapy. He has already conducted two Inner Circle Seminars. He will conduct another on 13 June 2010 for his 90th birthday (15 April 2010), in preparation for which we are studying his ten books published since the millennium. Today we discuss the seventh, Coercion as Cure: A Critical History of Psychiatry (2007). This dark and terrifying book is perhaps Szasz’s most important since The Myth of Mental Illness (1961), an expanded, 50th-anniversary edition of which will be released by HarperCollins in March.
Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ
Cost: Students £108, others £135; some bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail: stadlen@aol.com
For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/

The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.

Friday 9 January 2009

‘May you live to 120!’ 4. Becker. 5. Heidegger. Inner Circle Seminar 143 (13 September 2009 )



‘May you live to 120!’

Seven thinkers born in 1889
and their relevance to psychotherapy


Anthony Stadlen
conducts
Inner Circle Seminar No. 143
Sunday 13 September 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Reflection on the philosophy of psychotherapy is an urgent necessity. The survival of true psychotherapy is threatened by state regulation. Too few psychotherapists have insisted that ‘mental health’ is a metaphor. It is therefore not surprising that the Government plans to regulate psychotherapy as a ‘health profession’. The Inner Circle Seminars, however, seek to clarify psychotherapy as a moral, not a medical, practice.

In the annus mirabilis 1889 seven of the greatest 20th-century philosophers were born: R. G. Collingwood, Watsuji Tetsuro, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Oskar Becker, Martin Heidegger, Dietrich von Hildebrand, Gabriel Marcel. In four seminars, we explore their contributions. All seven throw light on the nature of human relationships and, explicitly or implicitly, on psychotherapy. Today we briefly look at Oskar Becker’s little-known thinking on ‘para-existence’ and ‘mantic divination’, but our main focus is Martin Heidegger’s work with Medard Boss on the daseinsanalytic foundations of psychotherapy, in the 1959-1969 Zollikon Seminars whose 50th anniversary falls this autumn. Your contribution to the discussion is welcome. Each seminar is self-contained. You may attend any or all.

Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ
Cost: Students £108, others £135; some bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail:
stadlen@aol.com

For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/
The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.

‘Bringing them the Plague’: Freud in USA (1909). Inner Circle Seminar 142 (6 September 2009 )


 
A. A. Brill      Ernest Jones      Sándor Ferenczi
Sigmund Freud      Stanley Hall      C. G. Jung

Clark University, Worcester MA, September 1909


‘Bringing them the Plague’

A Centenary Revaluation of
Freud’s
‘Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis’
Clark University, Worcester MA

7–11 September 1909

Anthony Stadlen

conducts
Inner Circle Seminar No. 142
Sunday 6 September 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Lacan used to say that Jung told him in 1954 that Freud had said in 1909, when they glimpsed the Statue of Liberty on reaching the United States, ‘They don’t realise we’re bringing them the plague.’ What did Freud mean by this joke? Does psychoanalysis detract from human freedom? Why did Freud say America was a ‘gigantic mistake’? Today, we examine Freud’s five improvised lectures at Clark University. We focus on the interface of maximum conflict: between the American assumption that psychoanalysis was part of psychiatry and medicine, and Freud’s insistence on its autonomy as ‘secular care of the soul’.

Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ
Cost: Students £108, others £135; some bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail: stadlen@aol.com
For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/

The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.

Tuesday 6 January 2009

Szasz in the 21st Century. 6. ‘My Madness Saved Me’: The Madness and Marriage of Virginia Woolf (2006). Inner Circle Seminar 141 (14 June 2009)


Thomas Szasz
Photograph by Steve Peters
Syracuse NY, April 2008
Thomas Szasz in the 21st Century

6.
‘My Madness Saved Me’:
The Madness and Marriage of Virginia Woolf
(2006)


Anthony Stadlen
conducts
Inner Circle Seminar No. 141
Sunday 14 June 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Reflection on the philosophy of psychotherapy is an urgent necessity. The survival of true psychotherapy is threatened by state regulation. Too few psychotherapists have insisted, with Thomas Szasz, that ‘mental health’ is a metaphor. It is therefore not surprising that the Government plans to regulate psychotherapy as a ‘health profession’. The Inner Circle Seminars, however, seek to clarify psychotherapy as a moral, not a medical, practice.

Thomas Szasz remains the world’s foremost moral and existential philosopher of psychiatry and psychotherapy. He has already conducted two Inner Circle Seminars, and will conduct another for his 90th birthday (15 April 2010), 50 years after ‘The Myth of Mental Illness’ (1960). By then he will have published at least ten books since the millennium. We are studying each in turn, and aim to catch him up in time for his own 90th birthday seminar. Today we discuss his sixth 21st–century book, ‘My Madness Saved Me’: The Madness and Marriage of Virginia Woolf (2006). Each seminar is self-contained.
Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ
Cost: Students £96, others £120; some bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail:
stadlen@aol.com
For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/

The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.

Monday 5 January 2009

Szasz in the 21st Century. 5. Szasz Under Fire (2004). Inner Circle Seminar 140 (17 May 2009)



Thomas Szasz
Photograph by Steve Peters
Syracuse NY, April 2008
Thomas Szasz
in the 21st Century

5.
Szasz Under Fire:
The Psychiatric Abolitionist Faces His Critics
(2004)


Anthony Stadlen

conducts
Inner Circle Seminar No. 140
Sunday 17 May 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.


Reflection on the philosophy of psychotherapy is an urgent necessity. The survival of true psychotherapy is threatened by state regulation. Too few psychotherapists have insisted, with Thomas Szasz, that ‘mental health’ is a metaphor. It is therefore not surprising that the Government plans to regulate psychotherapy as a ‘health profession’. The Inner Circle Seminars, however, seek to clarify psychotherapy as a moral, not a medical, practice.

Thomas Szasz remains the world’s foremost moral and existential philosopher of psychiatry and psychotherapy. He has already conducted two Inner Circle Seminars, and will conduct another for his 90th birthday (15 April 2010), 50 years after ‘The Myth of Mental Illness’ (1960). By then he will have published at least ten books since the millennium. We are studying each in turn, and aim to catch him up in time for his own 90th birthday seminar. Today we discuss his fifth 21st–century book, edited by Jeffrey Schaler: Szasz Under Fire: The Psychiatric Abolitionist Faces His Critics (2004). Your contribution to the discussion is welcome. Each seminar is self-contained. You may attend any or all.

Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ
Cost: Students £96, others £120, in advance; bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail:
stadlen@aol.com
For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/
 
The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.

Sunday 4 January 2009

‘May you live to 120!’ 3. Wittgenstein. Inner Circle Seminar 139 (26 April 2009)



Ludwig Wittgenstein
‘May you live to 120!’

Seven thinkers born in 1889
and their relevance to psychotherapy

3. Ludwig Wittgenstein
(26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951)


Anthony Stadlen
conducts

Inner Circle Seminar No. 139
Sunday 26 April 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.


Reflection on the philosophy of what is called psychotherapy is an urgent necessity, not an academic pastime. The survival of true psychotherapy is threatened by state regulation. The psychotherapy organisations have failed to insist that ‘mental health’ is a metaphor. It is therefore unsurprising that psychotherapy is to be regulated as a ‘health profession’. The Inner Circle Seminars clarify psychotherapy as a moral, not a medical, practice.

In the annus mirabilis 1889 seven of the greatest 20th-century philosophers were born: R. G. Collingwood, Watsuji Tetsuro, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Oskar Becker, Martin Heidegger, Dietrich von Hildebrand, Gabriel Marcel. In four seminars, we explore their contributions. All seven throw light on the nature of human relationships and, explicitly or implicitly, on the foundations of psychotherapy. Today we discuss Wittgenstein’s contribution. Each seminar is self-contained. You may attend any or all.

Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ
Cost: Students £96, others £120, in advance; bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail:
stadlen@aol.com
For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/

The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.

Saturday 3 January 2009

Szasz in the 21st Century. 4. Faith in Freedom (2004). Inner Circle Seminar 138 (22 March 2009)


Thomas Szasz
Photograph by Steve Peters
Syracuse NY, April 2008
Thomas Szasz in the 21st Century

4.
Faith in Freedom:
Libertarian Principles and Psychiatric Practi
ces (2004)


Anthony Stadlen
conducts
Inner Circle Seminar No. 138
Sunday 22 March 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Reflection on the philosophy of what is called psychotherapy is an urgent necessity, not an academic pastime. The survival of true psychotherapy is threatened by state regulation. The psychotherapy organisations have failed to insist that ‘mental health’ is a metaphor. It is therefore unsurprising that psychotherapy is to be regulated as a ‘health profession’. The Inner Circle Seminars clarify psychotherapy as a moral, not a medical, practice.
Thomas Szasz remains the world’s foremost moral and existential philosopher of psychiatry and psychotherapy. He has already conducted two Inner Circle Seminars, and will conduct another for his 90th birthday (15 April 2010), 50 years after ‘The Myth of Mental Illness’ (1960). By then he will have published at least ten books since the millennium. We are studying each in turn, and aim to catch him up in time for his own 90th birthday seminar. Today we discuss his fourth 21st–century book, Faith in Freedom: Libertarian Principles and Pyschiatric Practices (2004). Each seminar is self-contained. You may attend any or all.
Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ
Cost: Students £96, others £120, in advance; bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail: stadlen@aol.com
For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/

The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.

Friday 2 January 2009

‘May you live to 120!’ 1. Collingwood. 2. Watsuji. Inner Circle Seminar 137 (22 February 2009)



R. G. Collingwood          Watsuji Tetsuro
‘May you live to 120!’

Seven thinkers born in 1889
and their relevance to psychotherapy

1. R. G. Collingwood
(22 February 1889 – 9 January 1943)
2. Watsuji Tetsuro
(1 March 1889 – 26 December 1960) 

Anthony Stadlen
conducts

Inner Circle Seminar No. 137
Sunday 22 February 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.


Reflection on the philosophy of what is called psychotherapy is an urgent necessity, not an academic pastime. The survival of true psychotherapy is threatened by state regulation. The psychotherapy organisations have failed to insist that ‘mental health’ is a metaphor. It is therefore unsurprising that psychotherapy is to be regulated as a ‘health profession’. The Inner Circle Seminars clarify psychotherapy as a moral, not a medical, practice.

In the annus mirabilis 1889 seven of the greatest 20th-century philosophers were born: R. G. Collingwood, Watsuji Tetsuro, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Oskar Becker, Martin Heidegger, Dietrich von Hildebrand, Gabriel Marcel. In four seminars, we explore their contributions. All seven throw light on the nature of human relationships and, explicitly or implicitly, on the foundations of psychotherapy. Today we discuss Wittgenstein’s contribution. Each seminar is self-contained. You may attend any or all.

Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ
Cost: Students £96, others £120, in advance; bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail: 
stadlen@aol.com
For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/

The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.



Thursday 1 January 2009

Szasz in the 21st Century. 3. Words to the Wise (2004). Inner Circle Seminar 136 (25 January 2009)


Thomas Szasz
Phorograph by Steve Peters
Syracuse NY, April 2008
Thomas Szasz
in the 21st Century


3. Words to the Wise:
A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary
(2004)


Anthony Stadlen
conducts
Inner Circle Seminar No. 136
Sunday 25 January 2009
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.


Thomas Szasz remains the world’s foremost moral and existential philosopher of psychiatry and psychotherapy. He has already conducted two Inner Circle Seminars, and will conduct another for his 90th birthday (15 April 2010), 50 years after his paper ‘The Myth of Mental Illness’ (1960) which led to his book The Myth of Mental Illness (1961). By then he will have published at least ten books since the millennium. We are studying each in turn, and aim to catch him up in time for his own 90th birthday seminar. Today we discuss his third 21st–century book, Words to the Wise: A Medical-Philosophical Dictionary (2004). Each seminar is self-contained. You may attend any or all.
Venue: Durrants Hotel, 26–32 George Street, Marylebone, London W1H 5BJ
Cost: Students £96, others £120; some bursaries; mineral water, coffee, tea, biscuits, liquorice allsorts included
Apply to: Anthony Stadlen, ‘Oakleigh’, 2A Alexandra Avenue, London N22 7XE
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8888 6857 E-mail: stadlen@aol.com
For further information on seminars, visit: http://anthonystadlen.blogspot.com/
 
The Inner Circle Seminars were founded by Anthony Stadlen in 1996 as an ethical, existential, phenomenological search for truth in psychotherapy. They have been kindly described by Thomas Szasz as ‘Institute for Advanced Studies in the Moral Foundations of Human Decency and Helpfulness’. But they are independent of all institutes, schools and colleges.