Loewald and Winnicott’s Theoretical Convergence

This essay aims to identify some fascinating overlaps in Loewald's and Winnicott's perspectives on the emergence of autonomy in tandem with a capacity for genuine two-person engagement. Comparing Loewald's "The Waning of the Oedipus Complex" and Winnicott's "The Use of the Object and Relating through Identifications," I address the striking similarities (and some differences) in the two theorists' developmental and clinical visions. Each moved psychoanalytic theorizing away from a one-person perspective on development and toward one lodged in mutuality.