A Genealogy of Ideas in Alfred Adler’s Psychology

Abstract

We examine the social, political, and philosophical influences on Adler’s life and work in a “genealogical” manner to contextualize the formation of Adlerian Individual Psychology. The notion of genealogy as an orientation to history derives from the work of Michel Foucault, who drew it from Friedrich Nietzsche. We discuss conditions and constraints exercised by socioeconomic elements and the progress of formation of the discourse of Adlerian psychology up to 1917. Genealogy suggests that a psychology is progressively constituted in a narrative manner, employing continuities and discontinuities to arrive at a discursive formation. In this essay we weave history, principle, and philosophy to form a fresh perspective on the development of Adlerian psychology. This approach suggests an alternate way to read Adler.

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