The Legacy of Boesch's Intellectual Oeuvre

The article serves as an introduction to Boesch's theory from the personal point of view of an author who has interacted with Boesch for a long time. First, three roots of Boesch's enterprise are located (Boesch's clinical work, his interest in contexts, and his own scientific heritage), and their implications for his theoretical framework are drawn. In a second section the intrinsic relationship among some of Boesch's key concepts is illustrated (actor, action, cognitive and affective schemata, symbolism, fantasms and myths). In a third part some thoughts about the future of Boesch's theory are offered. Here it is claimed that in Boesch's theory the social world is not as adequately elaborated as is the world of objects, and that this is a task for the future. Additionally, some methodical and methodological implications are enumerated, which follow from an action theory that is built upon a potentially self-reflective subject who is to be respected also as a moral patient.

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