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PS: Please read the following three epigrams for the course I
truly believe that they will be of help to your reading
1.
Moreover, what is advocated here is a radical reading anew of his writings, with a view to
rediscovering them or indeed to discovering them for the first time for like all great texts, they
are inexhaustible. For this purpose, a particular reading attitude is recommended, made up of
unobtrusiveness, careful alertness and respect for even the most insignificant detail an
oscillation between proximity and distance that will assure the texts of sufficient free space to
reveal themselves in all their independence. To put this in negative terms, in order to have any
chance of perceiving what Freud was trying to express in his writings at the time of their
composition while in the midst of the process of understanding, the reader must approach them
not from the meta-level, not as it were looking down from above, and not from the vantage point
of superior knowledge that is, not solely from the place of present-day psychoanalytic theory
and practice. The risk otherwise is of encountering nothing but his own conscious or
unconscious expectations or, alternatively, the Babel of later interpreters voices drowning out
everything else.
Of course, a nave reading of this kind, directed toward maximum authenticity of
understanding, is but approximately feasible. We are, after all, not contemporaries of Freud, and
can at most keep in the background, but not totally suspend, knowledge we have since acquired.
The attitude commended to the reader can perhaps best be likened to that of evenly suspended
attention, which we assume in relation to the analysands communications in the course of our
analytic work.
Ilse Grubrich-Simitis Early Freud and Late Freud
2.
Although he held on to the scientific image of his day, it is remarkable how much he was
nevertheless able to see in human nature which did not fit this image. One reason Freuds
theoretical speculations remain exciting is that he is always trying to catch up to observations
which outstrip his ability to understand them.
Jonathan Lear
Love and Its Place in Nature:
A Philosophical Interpretation of Freudian Psychoanalysis
3.
also keep in mind Freuds distaste for philosophy i.e. for philosophy understood as
speculative system making. This is true although/because Freud is in no way averse to speculation
itself indeed one could argue his genius lies precisely in his creative openness to modeling
mind; in other words openness to making models of (aspects of) mind, to what he calls the
apparatus of the soul using a word whose religious connotations are as strong in German as in
English. Freuds self-understanding is that his theorizing, his meta-theory, is the least fixed and
least certain aspect of his work. It is scaffolding that, he says, he is ready to throw away
whenever new data require or better scaffolding becomes available. Meta-theory is an
explanatory enterprise, a step removed from data, and so necessarily abstract and metaphorical.
You will see that, on the level of theory, Freud tolerates a good deal of vagueness, imprecision,
uncertainty, omission and contradiction although the form of his presentation his authoritative
style and his rhetorical skill obscures these qualities.
Jonathan House
excerpted from page 9 of this study guide
- pages 19-23
- pages 43-68
- pages 1-54
The Sandler chapters give the classical, or customary, first-take on this period of Freuds
theorizing. The Laplanche and Pontalis excerpt is at the other extreme, an outline of a close
reading of the notion of trauma in Freud.
WRITTEN WORK FOR CLASS #1, MONDAY SEPTEMBER 10TH
Alternative #1
For the Charcot obituary, written at the same time as Preliminary Communication,
consider the argument beginning at the middle of page 19, starting with the phrase, A
quite unbiased observer Write a paragraph on:
1. What is Freuds point?
2. For Freud why is this point important?
Alternative #2
Write a paragraph on: Is there a conceptual tension between the understanding of trauma
in Preliminary Communication vs. Neuropsychoses of Defense? In Preliminary
Communication see page 6 in the SE (page 9 in the Luckhurst translation) and in
Neuropsychoses of Defense see SE III page 47
EMAIL YOUR PARAGRAPH TO (Jonathan.House@gmail.com)
BEFORE NOON ON SUNDAY, 9/14
In this class, and usually, I will focus on the Freud readings: the Charcot obit, Preliminary
Communication and The Neuro-Psychoses of Defence
Charcot (1893)
When, in 1906, Freuds writings were for the first time gathered and published as
collected writings, this obit was the first piece. In his preface Freud wrote: The fact that I
have put my Obituary of J-M. Charcot at the head of this collection should be regarded not only
as the repayment of a debt of gratitude, but also as an indication of the point at which my own
work branches off from the masters.
Notice in particular the argument that begins in the middle of page 19 (starting with the
phrase, A quite unbiased observer) I will talk about the 5 pages starting on the last line of
page 18 to the end of the piece but do read the whole thing.
Preliminary Communication and The Neuro-Psychoses of Defence
In Preliminary Communication focus on the first section. I will focus on The psychical
mechanism of hysteria
In the Neuropsychoses of Defense some points of reference:
The psychosis in neuropsychosis is not used in the sense that psychosis is now
used, rather it means a neurosis of the psyche as opposed to a neurosis of some other
organ (e.g. cardiac neurosis was a neurosis of the heart).
Freud will propose a mechanism connecting phobias and obsessions (which for him are
linked) and certain hysterias the mechanism of defense. For Freud definitions are or
soon will be as follows (we will address this in the third class):
Defense neuroses
Hysteria
Obsessions (psychic)
Paranoia
Hallucinatory Confusion
Phobia
Actual neuroses
Neurasthenia
Anxiety Neurosis
conversion
substitution
projection
detachment of the ego from reality
uncertain mechanism
masturbation & wet dreams
abstinence & coitus interruptus
On page 47, notice the definition of trauma and consider if it is different than the
definition in Preliminary Communication.
Pages 48-49 contain the key paragraphs of this paper concerning the mechanism of
repression.
Page 51 58 What might a disposition an aptitude for conversion entail?
Notice how he wrestles with the problem of the unconscious mental on page 53.
Read the appendix
- page 144
- pages 264-266
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
How do Breuer and Freud understand trauma, explicitly and implicitly? E.g. in
Anna O, what/where/how is the trauma as Breuer understands it in the snake
story? In the dog story?
Also how do they understand fantasy? E.g. In Anna O note Breuers emphasis on
stories, day-dreams, fantasies.
What is the relation of fantasy to trauma?
In the cases, how do Breuer and Freud understand the relation between what is
conscious and what is something else? Is there a difference between what is
explicit and what you think it implicit in their clinical accounts?
What is the nature of the repressing force?
What is the nature of the symptom? How is it formed?
What is the nature of the cure catharsis how does it work?
NB: I will focus particularly on the story of Emma in The Project (pages 352-356), who is
to be distinguished from Emmy in Studies, and then on the story of Katharina. So do read
these closely and/or twice. They are not long. For Emma and Katharina the Laplanche &
Pontalis excerpt will be very helpful. Here as in the first class, consider how Freud
understands trauma. For Emma and for each case in Studies, as Freud sees it what is
traumatic? And when does the trauma occur? And why is the trauma traumatic?
This year we are covering in 4 classes both Studies and Interpreation of Dreams. All the
cases bear reading and re-reading, but we wont have time to touch on more than tiny fragments.
Perhaps the most fun to read is the final case, Elizabeth von R, but if you give yourself the time
to read in a leisurely way delights can be found even (or especially) in the footnotes which
include brief bits on other patients. If we have time, we will take up whatever catches your eye
in any of the cases something particularly interesting or some point where Freud seems
confused and/or confusing and/or wrong, etc.
As you read, here are some things to know and/or notice:
Anna O
Anna O is a very difficult read for a variety of reasons: Breuer doesnt write as well as
Freud; the description and it is mostly description - is immersed in the medicine of the 1880s;
the implicit model of [pathological] mental functioning is not clear [? not coherent what do you
think?].
Read it as narrative without struggling to make sense of the details but do struggle more
with the section from page 30 to 40. Especially note the inaugural moment of the cathartic cure:
the dog story on page 34 of the SE (page 38 of the Nicola Luckhurst translation) and also think
about the story of the snake hallucinations on page 37 of the SE (42 of NL).
Katharina
14y/o
14-16 y/o
Father
Father & Franziska
In
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bed
in (2+) suggestive situations
16 y/o
18 y/o
F&F Vomiting
anxiety attacks
In bed x 3 days - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bed
with hallucination
In Katharina note:
1. Biphasic nature of sexuality
2. Deferred action / Retrospective modification (Nachtrglichkeit / Aprs-coup /
Afterwardsness) in relation to sexuality and to trauma
3. NB for Katharina as for Emma in the Project, the Laplanche and Pontalis selection will
be extremely helpful.
We will (re)visit seduction theory before moving on to the abandonment of the seduction
theory. Freud is said to have given up the seduction theory; indeed, at various moments when
he writes the history of psychoanalysis, Freud himself says as much. We will look at his reasons
for abandoning his neurotica and ask not only why he gives it up, but precisely what he is
giving up, both explicitly and implicitly and what aspect of the seduction theory is not given
up.
For these purposes the key readings are: (a) the two letters to Fleiss and (b) the Laplanche
& Pontalis excerpts.
A one page summary of the first five chapters (to be distributed) can substitute for the
first pages listed above (i.e.
I strongly recommend the Joyce Crick translation which is a translation of the first edition.
Crick's note on the Translation and bibliography may be useful. Oxford University Press ISBN
978-0-19-953758-7 [The price is $14.95] Alternatively, use the Standard Edition
CHAPTER VII
material, but if not I trust that you will savor the Wolf Man case in your independent
reading.
As Strachey notes (SE XII, pp. 215-6), this group of papers marks a return to a
line of discussion which began with the Project for a Scientific Psychology and
continued through The Interpretation of Dreams, especially Chapter 7. In the decade
or so between the latter work and the beginning of this group, Freud was concerned
primarily with issues closer to the clinical level -- working out the implications of this
theoretical structure for an understanding of the transference neuroses. In this
group of papers he returns to a higher level of theoretical abstraction; while reading
them, you should think about the meaning of the commonly-used term
metapsychology.
Of course, we know where the theory is headed, so we will naturally be on
the lookout for precursors of structural theory, but its important to keep in mind
that we have an unfair advantage over Freud we know where the theory will go
next, but Freud is feeling his way forward alone and without foresight.
Much of the theoretical material we will consider in this section is organized
around an effort to explain clinical phenomena which have not previously been
encompassed by analytic theory: schizophrenia, affective disorders, hypochondria,
masochism, combat neuroses, etc. In this sense, these papers can be seen as part
of the effort to make psychoanalysis into a general psychology, but we should not
be distracted by this effort. For our purposes, the explanations of these specific
conditions are less important than the theoretical advances which these
explanations necessitate; we are less interested in whether his explanation of
paraphrenia is believable than in how he changes his theory in order to make this
explanation.
12/22/14: Formulations on the Two Principles of Mental Functioning, SE
XII, pp. 215-226
This work is sufficiently compact to permit and to reward a close reading. The
first paragraph contains a crucial implication as an unstated assumption: others
have described important characteristics of neurosis, but Freud proposes to explain
these characteristics as the result of motivation neurotics turn away from
reality because (emphasis mine). The discussion (p. 220) of how attention and
memory evolve illustrates Freuds effort to explain all of mental life as motivated.
This emphasis on motivation is the factor that continues, even today, to distinguish
psychoanalytic theory from other theories of mind, e.g, the theory underlying
cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Freud makes it clear that he regards the introduction of the reality principle
as a momentous development, and you should note the various consequences he
describes as resulting from this change (pp. 220-222). However, it is important to
note the ultimate relationship of the two principles (p.223) the reality principle is
simply a special case, or subset, of the overarching pleasure principle.
In passing, Freud mentions several points which he will examine more
systematically in subsequent papers. For now, you should just try to grasp what he
means by his unsystematic references to: the term ego, the conflict between egoinstincts and self-preservative instincts, and the problem of the choice of neurosis.
Finally, please note his parting comment about the role of the reality principle in
writing this paper Freud has a delightful, dry, and self-deprecating sense of humor,
which candidates and other readers often miss because they expect him to be
ponderous.
development which forms part of the transition to structural theory and later to ego
psychology.
As you read through the more abstract section, pay attention to Freuds
explanation for why repression happens (p. 147), how this explanation follows the
Pleasure Principle, and how repression is related developmentally to other
vicissitudes. The following pages (148-151) concern the idea of derivatives; you
should try to reach a comfortable understanding of this concept, its relation to the
distinction between primal repression and repression proper, and its role in free
association.
The division of an instinct into an idea and a quota of affect, which should
be familiar from much earlier works (especially The Neuropsychoses of Defense,
1896), is re-introduced on p. 152. This cleavage is then used (pp. 153-157) to
explain the differing outcomes of repression in the three familiar transference
neuroses. In the course of these explanations Freud recalls another term from the
1896 paper which later became widely used, the return of the repressed.
1/26/15: The Unconscious, SE XIV, pp. 161-208
Like the papers on Repression and the Two Principles, this one is also
densely written, but it systematizes so much material that it can hardly be called
compact. As the Editors Note indicates, it should be considered an extension of the
theoretical effort that was begun in the Project and continued in Chapter Seven of
the Dream book.
The first (roughly) half of the text consists of a series of important
propositions about the unconscious. As used here, this term refers both to the
system ucs of topographic theory (the systemic unconscious) and to the
descriptive term meaning mental content not readily available to consciousness
(the descriptive unconscious), and the tension between these two meanings
points to some difficulties in the theory. You should read this section closely enough
to become familiar with the following propositions, and with the problems they
present:
1) the ucs is not the same as the repressed (p. 166)
2) all mental life is ucs (but some parts of it are perceived by the systems
pcs and cs p. 171)
3) emotions, as well as ideas, can be ucs (pp. 177-9)
The next section of the paper consists of Freuds effort to systematize what
he calls the metapsychological presentation of a mental process. You would do
well to read first the paragraph near the bottom of p. 182 where he defines this
term as a synthesis of three points of view, then to go back and work through the
section on pp. 180-1, in which he illustrates the dynamic point of view and defines
the economic point of view (the previous section, on the ucs, details the topographic
point of view). In its current usage, the term metapsychology means something
broader than this, but we see here Freuds efforts to reconcile his own varying
perspectives on his subject.
With this theoretical structure in place, he next returns to the familiar
transference neuroses, and tries to offer a full metapsychological description of
each (pp. 183-5). Our primary interest lies in identifying the points of stress in this
effort. Freud has already hinted that he recognizes these strains, in the passage on
p. 172 in which he imagines abandoning the distinction between cs and ucs, and in
the passage on pp. 174-5 in which he disavows any connection between topography
and anatomy. The clearest statement of the problem is given on pp. 192-4, in the
section which includes his acknowledgement that the conscious is not always
conscious.
The section on pp. 196-9 points toward the next group of readings, which
concern the narcissistic neuroses, including schizophrenia. His discussion of
schizophrenia, in turn, leads him back to an old topic, the distinction between
thing-presentation and word-presentation. To understand why this obscure idea
seems so important to him, we should recall both that he began his work in
neurology with a study of aphasia (cf Appendix C) and that his model of the
therapeutic action of analysis involved putting unconscious material into words.