Death and Mastery: Psychoanalytic Drive Theory and the Subject of Late Capitalism / Benjamin Y
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Object Relations Theories and the Developmental Tilt Stephen A
(1984) Contemp. Psychoanal., 20:473-499 Object Relations Theories and the Developmental Tilt Stephen A. Mitchell, Ph.D. It is the predicament of the neurotic that he translates everything into the terms of infantile sexuality; but if the doctor does so too, then where do we get? Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God THE DESIGNATION "OBJECT RELATIONS THEORY" has been used with reference to a wide range of very different kinds of formulations: from Klein's rich and complex depiction of unconscious fantasy, to Fairbairn's highly abstract, schematic structural model, to Bowlby's ethologically-based theory of attachment, to Winnicott's epigramatic paradoxes and pithy observations about children, to Mahler's powerfully evocative portrayal of the longing for symbiotic fusion, to Jacobson's causuistic emendations of Freud's drive theory. To employ a common term for such a wide array of disparate points of view runs a risk—the fashionable popularity accruing to "object relations theories" in recent years has blurred important distinctions beneath a hazy aura connoting theory that is new, humanistic, often esoteric, and presumably pertaining to the deepest recesses of the mind and the earliest developmental phases. Is the employment of a common phrase to designate these different groups of theories useful or misleading? What do these heterogeneous theories have in common? What is essential and what is artifactual and political in their formulation? What has been their central role in the development of psychoanalytic ideas? Since the multiplicity of theories of object relations has been parallelled by a proliferation of different histories and interpretations of what might be regarded as the "object relations movement, " there is no consensus concerning these questions. -
CRITICAL THEORY and AUTHORITARIAN POPULISM Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism
CDSMS EDITED BY JEREMIAH MORELOCK CRITICAL THEORY AND AUTHORITARIAN POPULISM Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism edited by Jeremiah Morelock Critical, Digital and Social Media Studies Series Editor: Christian Fuchs The peer-reviewed book series edited by Christian Fuchs publishes books that critically study the role of the internet and digital and social media in society. Titles analyse how power structures, digital capitalism, ideology and social struggles shape and are shaped by digital and social media. They use and develop critical theory discussing the political relevance and implications of studied topics. The series is a theoretical forum for in- ternet and social media research for books using methods and theories that challenge digital positivism; it also seeks to explore digital media ethics grounded in critical social theories and philosophy. Editorial Board Thomas Allmer, Mark Andrejevic, Miriyam Aouragh, Charles Brown, Eran Fisher, Peter Goodwin, Jonathan Hardy, Kylie Jarrett, Anastasia Kavada, Maria Michalis, Stefania Milan, Vincent Mosco, Jack Qiu, Jernej Amon Prodnik, Marisol Sandoval, Se- bastian Sevignani, Pieter Verdegem Published Critical Theory of Communication: New Readings of Lukács, Adorno, Marcuse, Honneth and Habermas in the Age of the Internet Christian Fuchs https://doi.org/10.16997/book1 Knowledge in the Age of Digital Capitalism: An Introduction to Cognitive Materialism Mariano Zukerfeld https://doi.org/10.16997/book3 Politicizing Digital Space: Theory, the Internet, and Renewing Democracy Trevor Garrison Smith https://doi.org/10.16997/book5 Capital, State, Empire: The New American Way of Digital Warfare Scott Timcke https://doi.org/10.16997/book6 The Spectacle 2.0: Reading Debord in the Context of Digital Capitalism Edited by Marco Briziarelli and Emiliana Armano https://doi.org/10.16997/book11 The Big Data Agenda: Data Ethics and Critical Data Studies Annika Richterich https://doi.org/10.16997/book14 Social Capital Online: Alienation and Accumulation Kane X. -
Beckett's Victors: Quests Without Qualities Paul Shields
Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2005 Beckett's Victors: Quests without Qualities Paul Shields Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BECKETT’S VICTORS: QUESTS WITHOUT QUALITIES By PAUL SHIELDS A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring 2005 The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Paul Shields defended on January 4, 2005. ____________________________________ S. E. Gontarski Professor Directing Dissertation ____________________________________ Mary Karen Dahl Outside Committee Member ____________________________________ Karen Laughlin Committee Member ____________________________________ Fred L. Standley Committee Member Approved: ____________________________________ Bruce Boehrer, Director of Graduate Studies The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii For my mother and father— and for my grandmother, Lucille iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Stan Gontarski for his guidance and encouragement during the development of this study and over the course of my graduate career. His insights are evident on every page. I would also like to thank the members of my committee: Karen Laughlin for her support (and for buying coffee in Sydney); Fred L. Standley for his generosity; and Mary Karen Dahl for her willingness to be a part of this project. I must also thank Yu-Mi Yang for introducing me to Deleuze’s work and Chris Ackerley for reading parts of the manuscript. I am greatly indebted to Lori and Ben York, who have always cared about my pursuits and, more importantly, my well-being. -
The Good Intense “Loves” the Bad Intense: Intensity and the Death Drive
Future Insights No. 2 - Year 9 06/2019 - LC.1 [sic] - a journal of literature, culture and literary translation Dejan Durić, University of Rijeka, Croatia ([email protected]) - Željka Matijašević, University of Zagreb, Croatia ([email protected]) The Good Intense “Loves” the Bad Intense: Intensity and the Death Drive Abstract The article analyzes the concept of intensity promoted in late capitalism, and its difference from the teleological intensity of the countercultural sixties. Intensity is approached through psychoanalytic lenses as related to Freud’s drive theory, and to Lacan’s concept of jouissance. Counter-depressive intensity persists today devoid of any meaning, as it is a self-legitimating strategy of the most perfect and best conformed capitalist subject. The notion of the culture of intensity covers the natural privileging of late capitalism towards ‘the good intense.’ This paper analyzes its reverse: ‘the bad intense,’ and the tragedy of dysphoria. The movie Shame (2011), directed by Steve McQueen, is interpreted as an example of the transformation of the countercultural value of sexuality in the sixties to its mere reduction to both intense and numbing experience. Keywords: intensity, Eros, death drive, jouissance, euphoria, counterculture The true object of jouissance – if that word means anything – is death. The quest is not, as some say, for “some pleasure”; the quest is more precisely for the verification of the colour of emptiness. (Eric Laurent) 1. Introduction This paper analyzes the concept of intensity promoted in late capitalism as the only life worthy of living. Immoderation, extreme experiences, intensity gone astray and energy gone awry, ISSN 1847-7755; doi: 10.15291/sic/2.9.lc.1 1 Future Insights No. -
Thesis 2.0., Hokkanen
Distorted imaginaries in a world of crisis - A world-ecological analysis of the imaginaries at the root of United Nations’ climate responses Saana Hokkanen University of Helsinki Global Development Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences Master’s thesis November, 2020 Tiedekunta – Fakultet – Faculty Koulutusohjelma – Utbildingsprogram – Degree Programme Faculty of Social Sciences Master’s Programme in Society and Change Tekijä – Författare – Author Saana Maarit Hokkanen Työn nimi – Arbetets titel – Title Distorted imaginaries in a world of crisis – a world-ecological analysis of the imaginaries at the root of United Nations climate responses Oppiaine/Opintosuunta – Läroämne/Studieinriktning – Subject/Study track Global Development Studies Työn laji – Arbetets art – Level Aika – Datum – Month and year Sivumäärä – Sidoantal – Number of pages Master’s thesis November, 2020 67 + references Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract The earth and all of its inhabitants are currently on a trajectory of multiple cascading global crises, which threaten the existence of all beings and the complex relations, which enable the functioning of all societies. In addition to posing a physical threat to human and non-human existence, the climate emergency also poses a conceptual and an ontological challenge. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the institutionalized and globalized ontological assumptions (or imaginaries) at the core of the current world-system (/ecology) characterized by capitalism. One of the main arguments in this thesis is that the perpetuation of the core imaginaries (namely those of Society and Nature’s dualism, mechanistic image of the world and hierarchical existence) at the root of current global structures, as well as the international climate responses, has led to inadequate and misinformed responses to the emergency. -
The Death Drive
THE DEATH DRIVE When Freud articulated the idea of the death drive in Beyond the Pleasure Principle (Jenseits des Lustprinzips, 1920), he transformed himself into the psychological counterpart of a radical Hegelian without realizing it. The pleasure principle was “obvious.” People sought to maximize their pleasures and minimize their pains. The ultimate pain was symbolized (and actually experienced) by death, avoided at all costs. But, Freud concluded in a way that was broadly misunderstood, the opposite was the case. Another drive, more powerful than the drive for pleasure, dominated human behavior and consciousness, a death drive. Note: “drive,” Trieb, was translated as “in- stinct” until recently. Freud’s drives related to the key critical objects of childhood: the breast, shit, the phallus, the gaze, and the voice. These complex mediators (“partial objects”) continued to exercise an ambiguous force after first childhood encounters; they could not be assimilated within the world of objects and, thus, were linked to the idea of the Freudian Thing (das Ding). Unlike Whilhelm Reich and Erich Fromm, who took the life and death drives literally, as about (good, healthy, sexy) life and (bad, des- tuctive, selfish) death and posited a program to avoid the latter and embrace the former, Freud’s idea was more radical. It was about the compulsion to repeat, to return to key positions, objects, and events that were, like the partial objects, incapable of resolution. The death drive was circular, but the circle had a gap. Filling this gap was what Lacan later identified as the objet petit a, an irrational source of pleasure converted from the pain of impasse. -
Heinz Kohut's Theory of Narcissism1. Am. J. Psychoanal., 41:317- 326
Mitchell, S.A. (1981). Heinz Kohut's Theory of Narcissism1. Am. J. Psychoanal., 41:317- 326. (1981). American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 41:317-326 Heinz Kohut's Theory of Narcissism1 Stephen A. Mitchell, Ph.D. My interest in Kohut's theory of narcissism has developed not just because I find his approach conceptually interesting and because his work has had an enormous impact on clinical practice, but because I think he illustrates, more than any other theorist I can think of, the political dimension within psychoanalytic theorizing. To highlight this aspect of his work, I would like to do three things in this presentation; first, to track the basic principles of Kohut's approach to narcissism and personality functioning in general; second, to place Kohut's work in the larger context of the history of psychoanalytic ideas and the range of strategies taken by various theorists for positioning themselves within that tradition; and third, to examine the implications of Kohut's ancestry in and political affiliation with drive theory for his formulations concerning narcissism. In presenting Kohut's views, I want to focus mostly on his most recent book, The Restoration of the Self.1 However, I would like to begin by briefly summarizing the major lines of his argument in his earlier book, The Analysis of the Self,2 published in 1971, since his fundamental innovations were introduced there. What has changed since 1971 are not Kohut's basic concepts, but the way he positions them vis-à-vis classical theory—in other words, his politics. In the earlier work Kohut takes as his terminological starting point Freud's original distinction between narcissistic libido and object libido, although he radically alters the meaning of these terms. -
Death Drive in Outer Space
TIME AND TABOO: DEATH DRIVE IN OUTER SPACE Isabel Millar Heptapods and their discontents Psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic theory is often wrongly accused by those who do not care to take it seriously, of being a ‘humanism’ and therefore not capable of addressing the new conceptual challenges that the post-human, post-apocalyptic, post-Anthropocenic1 era may present us with. The persistent mischaracterization of psychoanalysis as somehow reducing grand theoretical, political and philosophical concerns into petty psychological questions of personal experience has meant that often the radical conceptual possibilities of psychoanalysis in both theory and praxis are missed. Having said that, the opportunities to put psychoanalysis to work outside its usual scope, even by those sympathetic to the psychoanalytic edifice, are often overlooked in favour of seemingly more well-suited theoretical frameworks2. This we see in the case of neuroscientific collaborations with AI companies for example under the auspices of Nick Bostrom’s Future of Humanity Institute, Elon Musk’s Neuralink, and the Blue Brain project among others. The challenge then is to push psychoanalysis beyond its comfortable realms and outside of the usual concerns with either the clinical subject or cultural critique of media objects and ask rather how may psychoanalysis become a tool with which we ask new theoretical questions that space travel and different modes of thought (including artificial and non-human) and their concomitant challenges presents the human subject with? Given its shared ability to engage the unconscious and allow us to experience (as dreams so often do) forms of time and space altering logic, often the way to approach these questions is through cinema. -
The Disability Drive by Anna Mollow a Dissertation Submitted in Partial Satisfaction of the Requirements for the Degree of Docto
The Disability Drive by Anna Mollow A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Kent Puckett, Chair Professor Celeste G. Langan Professor Melinda Y. Chen Spring 2015 The Disability Drive © Anna Mollow, 2015. 1 Abstract The Disability Drive by Anna Mollow Doctor of Philosophy in English University of California Berkeley Professor Kent Puckett, Chair This dissertation argues that the psychic force that Freud named “the death drive” would more precisely be termed “the disability drive.” Freud‟s concept of the death drive emerged from his efforts to account for feelings, desires, and actions that seemed not to accord with rational self- interest or the desire for pleasure. Positing that human subjectivity was intrinsically divided against itself, Freud suggested that the ego‟s instincts for pleasure and survival were undermined by a competing component of mental life, which he called the death drive. But the death drive does not primarily refer to biological death, and the term has consequently provoked confusion. By distancing Freud‟s theory from physical death and highlighting its imbrication with disability, I revise this important psychoanalytic concept and reveal its utility to disability studies. While Freud envisaged a human subject that is drawn, despite itself, toward something like death, I propose that this “something” can productively be understood as disability. In addition, I contend that our culture‟s repression of the disability drive, and its resultant projection of the drive onto stigmatized minorities, is a root cause of multiple forms of oppression. -
A Paper to Be Presented at the 6Th European CHEIRON Meeting in Brighton^England, 2-6 September 1987. Research Was Funded
Propriety of the Erich Fromm Document Center. For personal use only. Citation or publication of material prohibited without express written permission of the copyright holder. Eigentum des Erich Fromm Dokumentationszentrums. Nutzung nur für persönliche Zwecke. Veröffentlichungen – auch von Teilen – bedürfen der schriftlichen Erlaubnis des Rechteinhabers. "INSTINCTS" AND THE "FORCES OF PRODUCTION": The Freud-Marx Debates in Eastern and Central Europe* Dr. Ferenc Eros Institute of Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest In his essay "Psychology and Art Today", the British-American poet Wystan Hugh Auden writes: Both Freud and Marx start from the failures of civiliza tion, one from the poof, one from the ill. Both see human behavior determined, not consciously, but by instinctive needs, hunger and love. Both desire a world where rational choice and self-determination are possible. The difference between them is the inev itable difference between the man who studies crowds in the street, and the man who sees the patient... in the consulting room- Marx sees the direction of the relations between the outer and inner world from without inwards. Freud vice-versa.... The socialist accuses the psychologist of caving in to the status quo, trying to adapt the neurotic to the system, thus depriving him of a potential revolutionary; the psychologist retorts that the socialist is trying to lift himself by his own boot tags, that he fails to understand himself or the fact that lust for money is only one form of the lust for power; and so that after he has won his power by revolution he will recreate the same conditions. -
Syllabus PT 154 Comparative Psychoanalysis T. Morgan Fall 2018
Syllabus PT 154 Comparative Psychoanalysis T. Morgan Fall 2018 Wed. 3:30-5:30 CMPS: 30 Clock Hours NYGSP: 2 Credits Course Description This semester’s work will familiarize candidates with the motifs, idioms and preoccupations of a not- exhaustive list of schools of psychoanalysis as well as field influencers who fall between the theoretical cracks. We will aim to traverse a cross-section of meta-psychologies, diverse understandings of the human subject, unique concepts of cure, and (to the degree that ways of working are made apparent), various clinical techniques. Modern candidates will have the opportunity to prepare to interact with the ideas of many psychoanalytic tribes. Toward that end we will whet our appetites for Kleinian, Relational, Contemporary Freudian, Lacanian, Intersubjective, Feminist, and Interpersonal points of view. Objectives The candidate will be able to: • think historically about the genesis of transformations and developments in the field of psychoanalysis; • identify themes germane to discrete schools of psychoanalytic thought; and • employ psychoanalytic terminology such as “repression, conflict, dissociation, co-construction, thirdness, drive derivatives, internalized objects, regression, self-states, symbolization, “not-me”, trauma, wish, projective identification, introject, adaptation, ego defense, enigmatic messages, object a, attacks on linking, and more. Requirements *Reading requirements will, on average, tally about 50 pages a week. Pay attention to feelings aroused by the readings. *Come to class prepared to share what you loved and hated about the readings. *Submit, every other class, a 2-3 page, double-spaced written exploration of the last two week’s readings. Find what interests you and elaborate upon it. Email it to the instructor at [email protected] by Sunday before 6 pm the class before it is due if you want written commentary. -
The Apres-Coup, Apres Coup: Concerning Jean Laplanche Problématiques VI
The Apres-Coup, Apres Coup: Concerning Jean Laplanche Problématiques VI. L’Après-Coup1 Sergio Benvenuto Italian Council for Scientific Research Abstract Here the author examines the question of après-coup (afterwardsness) in psychoanalysis, commenting in particular on Jean Laplanche’s book, Après-Coup. The author appreciates Laplanche’s determination to avoid either a positivist interpretation of après-coup (as a “delay-action bomb”, as simply a delayed psychic effect) or an hermeneutic interpretation that makes of it a post-factum re-signification of past events. Yet at the same time, the author shows that Laplanche’s solution— which assumes an initial trauma to the subject, who must “translate” an ambiguous and enigmatic message originating from an adult other—ends up being, in effect, a clever combination of the two approaches, positivist and hermeneutic, that Laplanche was trying to avoid. Laplanche advances a much too linear theory, placing “the other” (that is, the desire of the adult) at the beginning of the process, while Lacan’s approach to après-coup opens up far more complex and disturbing perspectives for psychoanalysis. The author, having shown the limitations of Laplanche’s result (“the primacy of the other”), proposes his own interpretation of après-coup, wherein it would connect, in a unique way, the cause and the sense of the psychic world: a subsequent event in some way makes the sense of a preceding event to function as the cause of later psychic phenomena or symptoms. Introduction In time, later, we realize that the question of nachträglich – après-coup in French – is one of the central knots of psychoanalysis.