The Complete Works of W.R. Bion

Book excerpt: The previously unpublished works by Bion included in this volume com-prise four papers and ‘Further Cogitations’ from 1968 to 1969.The first of the papers has the title, ‘The Conception of Man‘. It was written originally as a chapter for a planned book of the same title, to be edited by Arthur Burton, who also edited Psychotherapy of the Psycho-ses (1961). Bion had been recommended as a possible contributor to the book by John Harvard-Watts – who had, around that time, suggested to Francesca Bion that she might persuade her husband to publish as a book the papers of Experiences in Groups and Other Papers (1961). Burton’s book was to have clarified how different thinkers conceived of Man, ”in his basic nature and humanity.