Scientific Meeting
Saturday, November 22, 2025
4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
255 Bradley Street
Event will also be available
via Zoom (link will be sent via email the day before the event)
New Haven, CT 06510
Loewald, Heidegger, and Freud: A Dialogue
Speaker: Robert White, MD
Discussant: Robert Stolorow, PhD
Non-WNEPS member
$35.00
WNEPS members, candidates and all students/trainees
$0.00
This presentation will examine the complex relationship among Martin Heidegger, who in 1927 introduced a radical new philosophy of being, Sigmund Freud, who articulated a revolutionary view of conscious and unconscious mental processes, and Hans Loewald, who sought to modernize foundational Freudian concepts. Loewald briefly studied with Heidegger between 1924 and 1926. The central contention is that Heidegger exerted a profound yet unacknowledged influence on Loewald, traceable through their respective philosophical and psychological theories. Death and finitude will serve as a central axis for all three thinkers, providing a lens through which their contrasting perspectives can be explored. The discussion will also situate Loewald within the history of psychoanalysis—considered radical in his own time but more conservative in the present.
A list of philosophical terms used by Heidegger, that would help listening to the talk is available here.
Dr. White's chapter on Heidegger in the Loewald book, which provides additional details about Heidegger and Loewald is available here.
Learning Objectives
- Explain Heidegger’s philosophical concepts of death, finitude, existence, and temporality.
- Describe Freud’s and Loewald’s psychoanalytic concepts of life and death drives, authenticity, and temporality.
- Analyze the ways in which Heidegger’s philosophy influenced Loewald’s psychoanalytic thought.
- Evaluate Loewald’s place within contemporary psychoanalysis, particularly in relation to intersubjectivity and social psychoanalysis.
Speaker: Robert White, MD
Robert White, M.D is a faculty member of the Western New England Institute for Psychoanalysis. He is a previous Director of the program for psychotherapy training at the Western New England Psychoanalytic Society. He is a member of the IPA committees on Clinical Observation and Working Parties. He has written on the subjects of enactments, relational issues, clinical observation, and has a special interest in the study of fairy tales. A 2021 paper on Peter Pan, published in JAPA, won the Deanna Holtzman Award from the Michigan Psychoanalytic Society. For many years, he was a member of an interdisciplinary study group of psychiatry and philosophy with an emphasis on Continental Philosophy.
Discussant: Robert Stolorow, PhD
Robert Stolorow received his B.A. in Biology and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his analytic training at the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health in New York. He is a Founding Member of the International Council for Psychoanalytic Self Psychology as well as of the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles, California. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Psychoanalysis and a member of the Advisory Board of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. He has served on numerous editorial boards, including those of Psychoanalytic Inquiry, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, The International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, and Psychoanalytic Review. He is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA School of Medicine and a Training and Supervising Analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles. Dr. Stolorow is also a faculty member of the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity in New York. He is the author (with coauthors) of eight books, of which the most recent title is Worlds of Experience: Interweaving Philosophical and Clinical Dimensions in Psychoanalysis. He has written more than 180 journal articles.
CME/CE Accreditation
ACCME Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and Western New England Psychoanalytic Society. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure Statement
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
This program is being reviewed for Continuing Education Credit Hours by the National Association of Social Workers, CT. Once approved, it will meet the continuing education criteria for Social Work Licensure renewal, Marriage & Family Therapist Licensure renewal, Professional Counselor Licensure renewal and Licensed Psychologist Licensure renewal.
