Gemelli, Musatti e la psicoanalisi. La celebre querelle tra due amici-nemici

Agostino Gemelli, Cesare Musatti, and psychoanalysis. the Famous querelle between two friendly enemies. - The personal relationship between the two friendly enemies Cesare Musatti and Father Agostino Gemelli (two pioneers in Italian psychology) is historically reconstructed, particularly regarding the opinions of one towards the other. Gemelli’s point of view about Freudian theory (therefore about Musatti as an orthodox Freudian) is discussed in the context of his complex personality and of his "politics" before the diffusion of psychoanalysis. Although some of Gemelli’s observations can be accepted also by contemporary critics of Freudian metapsychology (whereas Musatti was mostly attached to it), his insuperable resistances against Freudian theory are due to a fundamentally ethical reason. Musatti himself offers an enlightening synthesis of these resistances, that are discussed together with Musatti’s replies. While the barriers between the two on the subject of ethics cannot be overcome, nevertheless they still represent a topical issue in psychoanalysis.;

Keywords:Agostino Gemelli, Cesare Musatti, history of Italian psychoanalysis, ethics, controversy

• The Pope and the Unconscious: Pius XII’s Speech on Psychotherapy in 1953 and Its Interpretation by Agostino Gemelli Marco Innamorati, Renato Foschi, Andrea Romano, in European Yearbook of the History of Psychology /2021 pp.109
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Mauro Fornaro, Gemelli, Musatti e la psicoanalisi. La celebre querelle tra due amici-nemici in "PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE" 4/2009, pp 491-508, DOI: 10.3280/PU2009-004003