[Homepage][Catalog][Orderform][Contacts][Info]

Psyche and Eros

Mind and Gender in the Life Course

Labouvie-Vief, Gisela

In Psyche and Eros, Gisela Labouvie-Vief describes historical and current concepts of mind and development, drawing from disciplines as diverse as philosophy, mythology, religion, literature, and psychology. She then presents a powerful theory of the maturing of mind, which brings together her empirical work and her exploration into mythology. The classical Greek myth of the gods Psyche and Eros serves as an evocative illustration of the author's theory.

Psyche and Eros asserts that the core experience of development differs along gender lines. Rationality is regarded as masculine, while imagination is viewed as feminine. Competition between "masculine" and "feminine" parts of the mind limits our ability to describe the mind and its development over the life course. The author suggests that we overcome the dualistic way of thinking about mind, and see how rationality and imagination can complement each other.

Contents: PRELUDE: The Paradox of maturity/ The lost dimensions of development/ Mind and gender/ Structure of the book/ PART I: THE MIND DIVIDED/ The rage of Aphrodite: The vertical mind/ The marriage of death: Ascent and loss in development/ Night and day: Reason and gender/ PART II: THE MIND RESTORED/ Knife and lamp: Mythos rediscovered/ Psyche's trials: The transformation of desire/ Postlude: The sacred marriage

Subject: psychology

1994        6 X 9        345 pp.

Hardback        0-521-43340-1        $59.95
Paperback        0-521-46824-8        $19.95


Copyright © 1998 Cambridge University Press