Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis as the basis of anthropology

The existence of four directions of psychoanalysis realization in modern psychology is argued in the historical-psychological research, that is as an original method of treatment of neuroses and other mental disorders exclusively in a verbal way; as a theory of personality, that is, as a system of scientific knowledge about the formation of human character; as a systemic, often shocking, critique of Western civilization and as a new philosophy and thus a kind of worldview that sheds the light of truth on the unconscious sphere of its life. The historical way of formation of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis as a separate, biologically determined, naturally centered and culturally influential current of psychological science of the XX century is highlighted and the motivating influence of concepts and themes of B. Pascal, F. Nietzsche and especially J. Charcot is indicated on this formation, firstly as an idea and research program, then as a theory and method of psychotherapeutic practice. The exceptional importance of Freud’s creative collaboration with his older colleague Joseph Brier is emphasized, the productivity of which is confirmed by the jointly published book “The Study of Hysteria” published in 1895. It is it which initiates the expansive psychoanalytic discourse. It is noted that the idea and concept of displacement became the central core of Freudian psychology and made it possible to understand both individual works of fiction and classical works of art. It is stated that translations of selected Freud’s works into the native language were received by Ukrainian scientists only at the end of the last century, which, however, does not diminish the importance of psychoanalysis as a theoretical-empirical foundation of anthropology. Finally, based on the rich legacy of Philip Lersch, a conclusion is formulated about the prospects of a phenomenological approach to the cognition of human mental life in the context of urgent tasks of both theoretical psychology and applied, practice-oriented.

Is the Noise the Message in Psychoanalytic Listening?

In psychoanalytic discourse, the question of meaning or lack thereof should be relegated only to the domain of the interlocutor's perception. Not every slip of the tongue or bungled action is necessarily precipitated by some unconscious motivation, although one may construct meaning for it après coup (Nachträglichkeit). What is a message versus a noise depends on the perceptual experience of the analytic couple, and a cigar, if not just a cigar, depends on the context-specific fantasy of the perceiver. The author's aim is to show the difficulty of distinguishing the noise from the message in the interactive matrix of the analytic situation. Yet what at first may seem to be a banal error such as double-booking may at times enliven a stultified course of the analytic process; it may even drag a stillborn transference out of its embalmed closet.

On Kuhn’s case, and Piaget’s: A critical two-sited hauntology (or, On impact without reference)

Picking up on John Forrester’s (1949–2015) disclosure that he felt ‘haunted’ by the suspicion that Thomas Kuhn’s (1922–96) interests had become his own, this essay complexifies our understanding of both of their legacies by presenting two sites for that haunting. The first is located by engaging Forrester’s argument that the connection between Kuhn and psychoanalysis was direct. (This was the supposed source of his historiographical method: ‘climbing into other people’s heads’.) However, recent archival discoveries suggest that that is incorrect. Instead, Kuhn’s influence in this regard was Jean Piaget (1896–1980). And it is Piaget’s thinking that was influenced directly by psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis then haunts Kuhn’s thinking through Piaget, and thus Piaget haunts Forrester through Kuhn. To better understand this second site of the haunting—which is ultimately the more important one, given the intent of this special issue—Piaget’s early psychoanalytic ideas are uncovered through their interaction with his early biology and subsequent turn to philosophy. But several layers of conflicting contemporary misunderstandings are first excavated. The method of hauntology is also developed, taking advantage of its origins as a critical response to the psychoanalytic discourse. As a result of adopting this approach, a larger than usual number of primary sources have been unearthed and presented as evidence (including new translations from French originals). Where those influences have continued to have an impact, but their sources forgotten, they have thus been returned. They can then all be considered together in deriving new perspectives of Forrester’s cases/Kuhn’s exemplars/Piaget’s stages.

Doxography and Psychoanalysis, or Relegating Truth to the Lowly Status It Deserves

This chapter serves as an introduction to the history and methodology of “doxography” as the deeply problematic means by which Presocratic texts have been transmitted and passed down to us.It highlights the importance of Diogenes Laertius, as one of the most brilliant early doxographers, and the ground-breakingDoxographiGraeci of the nineteenth century German classical scholar and philologist, Herman Diels.Like the sophists, Lacan questions the primacy of truth in both philosophical and psychoanalytic discourse, which is “relegated to the lowly status it deserves.”

Idioms and Idiotisms: Theodore Thass-Thienemann’s The Interpretation of Language and Spectral Inheritance

The late work of the Hungarian émigré linguist and comparatist, Theodore Thass-Thienemann, presents a challenging combination of psychoanalytic discourse and the historical study of languages. His two-volume book entitled The Interpretation of Language (1973) sets out to complement the Freudian analysis of dream images and bodily symptoms via an investigation into the symbolism of ordinary verbal expressions as they appear in the languages of Indo-European cultures. His attention to the unconsciously inherited dimensions of particular idioms opens a path to the linguistic archeology of the human mind and a rethinking of the very notion of “idiom” in terms of “idiotism.” After providing a brief overview of the life and late works of Thass-Thienemann, this study offers a comprehensive analysis of his book. In the final analysis, Thass-Thienemann appears as the provocative thinker of a spectral inheritance, from which even his own discourse is not exempt.