The currentness of Karen Horney: epistemological reflections

Abstract

Karen Horney was a German psychoanalyst, pioneer in making criticisms of patriarchal ideals in culture and their influence on psychism and also in psychoanalytic theory, especially in the 1920s and 1930s. The aim of this article was to build connections between some of Horney’s contributions and contemporary issues concerning Psychoanalysis, particularly in its encounters with Gender and Feminist Studies. We argue that the author’s work opens possibilities in terms of epistemological reflections which dialogue with current productions in Brazilian Psychoanalysis. We highlight her statements regarding the process of building knowledge, notably about the place of agent in building knowledge and its effects over theory; the need to dialogue with other fields of knowledge and the critique to universalization in knowledge through discussing specificities of different cultures.