The Organism [Paperback]

Kurt Goldstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2000

foreword by Oliver Sacks Kurt Goldstein (1878-1965) was already an established neuropsychologist when he emigrated from Germany to the United States in the 1930s. This book, his magnum opus and widely regarded as a modern classic in psychology and biology, grew out of his dissatisfaction with traditional natural science techniques for analyzing living beings. It offers a broad introduction to the sources and ranges of application of the "holistic" or "organismic" research program that has since become a standard part of biological thought.Goldstein was especially concerned with the breakdown of organization and the failure of central controls that take place in catastrophic responses to situations such as physical or mental illness. But he was equally attuned to the amazing powers of the organism to readjust to such catastrophic losses, if only by withdrawal to a more limited range that it could manage by a redistribution of its reduced energies, thus reclaiming as much wholeness as new circumstances allowed.Goldstein's theses in The Organism have had an important impact on philosophical and psychological thought throughout the twentieth century, as evidenced in the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Georges Canguilhem, Ernst Cassirer, and Ludwig Binswanger.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this age of computer-based, reductionist models of the human mind, Goldstein's (1878-1965) pioneering statement on holistic health, written in 1934 in Holland, where he emigrated to escape Nazi Germany, is welcome, especially since the U.S. edition has been out of print for decades. An influential German neurologist and psychologist who taught and practiced medicine in the U.S., where he settled the following year, Goldstein stresses the seamless activity of the whole organism, arguing that there is no independent realm of "body" or "mind." Disease, in his system, is an expression of the disturbed relationship between an organism and its environment; recovery is a newly achieved adaptation, not merely a return to a previous equilibrium. Using illustrative material ranging from brain-damaged soldiers to repression of childhood memories, this dense, philosophically informed study reevaluates such concepts as anxiety, dread, instinct, drives, the unconscious and the nature of physical and mental illness.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 424 pages
• Publisher: Zone (February 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0942299973
• ISBN-13: 978-0942299977
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An essential read for any practising scientist., October 15, 2002

By 

Frank Bierbrauer (Cardiff, Wales, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Organism (Paperback)

Kurt Goldstein was a highly experienced and respected neurologist in the earlier years of the twentieth century who after a lifetime of experince with patients of all walks of life, but especially brain damaged soldiers of World War I, came to the conclusion that the working of the human body is far more than just independently functioning mechanisms which make a kind of slapdash whole from the sum of these "parts".

Goldstein explores many kinds of brain disorders he met along the way involving damage to the cortex and other parts of the brain often associated with structures which control certain aspects of behaviour such as reflex actions. Goldstein analyses in great detail and without prejudice each particular case describing the standard approaches on the subject and what he actually observes directly rather than just using the theory to define what is happening. Through this method he is able to obtain a far richer description of the neurological aspects of man than is usually given. He does not speculate arbitrarily but rather convinces by objective analysis. This is a hardnosed scientific approach although he still gives himself time to consider the wholeness of the body and its repair and "coming to terms" with its situation. In the last chapters he discusses approaches to the wholeness of the body and how important and relevant they are to a truer experience of the world as such. He nonetheless maintains a strong contact throughout with real patients never once releasing his touch to reality.

An essential read for any practising scientist who wants to understand.