World, affectivity, trauma

Robert D. Stolorow presents intersubjective systems theory, a framework he developed with colleagues, which treats emotional life as shaped within relationships and reads psychoanalysis after Descartes through a phenomenological lens. The opening chapters trace how this approach emerged and lay out its core principles.

The book then examines two-way connections between this psychoanalytic approach and Martin Heidegger's account of human existence. Stolorow argues that the psychoanalytic work gains depth and philosophical grounding from Heidegger, while Heidegger's existential thought is in turn extended by engaging with it.

The result is a bridge between post-Cartesian psychoanalysis and existential philosophy, focused on how emotional trauma can be understood phenomenologically.