Abstract

In this paper, Winnicott elaborates on a concept that occupied him in various forms and formulations towards the end of his life: the capacity of the self to relate to the object (or other) in such a way that the object (or other) is recognized as having a place outside the subjective experience of self. Winnicott refers to this as a sophisticated use of reality. He elaborates on this subject using his extensive clinical experience with patients in primitive and less primitive stages of emotional development.