1st Edition

The Psychology of Space Exploration What Freud Might Have Said

By Richard Sherry Copyright 2019
    76 Pages
    by Routledge

    76 Pages
    by Routledge

    This short book grapples with two vast questions: the nature of our minds, and our place in the wider universe. It considers how one mutually influences the development of the other.

    The changes and challenges that will accompany the first humans to leave Earth and travel to another planet, or even further, will not only impact our technical capabilities, but will also represent a watershed moment within our individual and collective human psychology. Many of the problems of resource use, environmental degradation, and waste or destructive processes are contained in the larger process of exploring another environment and planet. But This book also offers a shift in perspective that allows us to consider humanity from an alternative, more holistic perspective, reappraising our own minds both individually and within dynamic social processes.

    The Psychology of Space Exploration considers our place and purpose in the widest possible perspective, that of space exploration and the natural universe. It doesn’t seek to answer these questions, but provides a perspective to explore even further.

    I Introduction

    II Introduction

    III Freud’s impact on my view of human nature

    IV Connecting the necessity of the outer world to our inner universe

    V Understanding The Context of Outer Space and of the Inner Space of the Unconscious

    VI Space Exploration in the tension between cooperation and sublimation—Finding Collective Points of Working through Cultural Anxieties

    VII Case Example, Mission to Mars and Mission Critical Psychoanalytic Processes to be Realised

    VIII Space Exploration to Space Travel, and the Future of Psychoanalytic insights into Human Consciousness—From Spectator to Astronaut

    IX Radical Transformations in Concept and Development of Technology: Space as Applied Measure of Human Maturation

    X Mutual Evolution of Concepts: New Paradigms for the Future of Human Development

    XI Connecting up the Archaeology of the Time, Space and Psyche

    XII Conclusion

    Biography

    Dr. Richard Sherry is the Founder and Clinical Director for Psychological Systems Ltd. He is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist (CPsychol, AFBPsS); a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist (BPC); and an Executive Coach (Licensed with APECS). He has specialty training in Clinical Neuropsychology; Military Psychology; Extreme Environments; Ethics; and Complex Psychological Traumatology.