The Review of the Psychoanalytic Approaches to the Holocaust, on the Example of the Ninth Circle Interpretation

The essay is an overview of the most notable psychoanalytic approaches to the trauma of the Holocaust, in the works of the Frankfurt school authors, and in the works of Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub. The last part of the article represents an attempt to interpret the film Ninth Circle by France Štiglic, and in this respect the article reviews and applies the concepts of Viktor Frankl’s school of logotherapy, while it also relies on Frankl’s autobiographical account of the Holocaust trauma.The essay is an overview of the most notable psychoanalytic approaches to the trauma of the Holocaust, in the works of the Frankfurt school authors, and in the works of Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub. The last part of the article represents an attempt to interpret the film Ninth Circle by France Štiglic, and in this respect the article reviews and applies the concepts of Viktor Frankl’s school of logotherapy, while it also relies on Frankl’s autobiographical account of the Holocaust trauma

The Good Intense “Loves” the Bad Intense: Intensity and the Death Drive

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

HYSTERIA AND GENDER

The paper examines the significance of hysteria in relation to gender, the Darwinian psychiatrical construction of hysteria in the 19th century, and finally psychoanalytical concept of hysteria as an example of mental disorder. This suggests that the study of pathology started as the study of female pathology. The question is whether it is possible to give new meaning to hysteria and to say that it is a revolt against patriarchal discourse, following this ‘ontological’ link between women and madness based on women’s hyper-emotionality. Furthermore, it even reasses hysteria whithin post-feminism which stands for diversity, to such an extent that from being women\u27s “un-power” it turns hysteria into “women-power” – the power of emotions, which is elaborated in the works of contemporary philosophers Megan Boler and Alison Jaggar

Psychoanalysis and New Age

Tema teksta bit će odnos određenih psihoanalitičkih učenja i suvremenih new age teorija i tehnika, pri čemu se popularnost i raspostranjenost new age tehnika može dovesti u vezu s opadanjem značaja psihoanalitičkih terapijskih tehnika. New age će biti doveden u vezu s Jungovim naslijeđem i idejom razaranja Ja kako bi se porodilo sebstvo što je vezano uz zahtjev new agea za osobnom preobrazbom preko izmijenjenih stanja svijesti. Freuda se unutar new agea općenito tumači kao vrhunac zapadnjačke racionalnosti, kao krajnju supremaciju racionalnog mišljenja koje je u svom prosvjetiteljskom zanosu krenulo racionalizirati i posljednju stvar, to jest – nesvjesno. Freud, za razliku od new agera, ipak, polaže nade u vladavinu svijesti i očuvanje svjesnog dijela ličnosti ili čvrstoću ega kao temelja ili jamca duševnog zdravlja, kao i očuvanje stroge granice koja dijeli svjesno i nesvjesno.The theme of this essay is the relation of certain psychoanalytic theories and contemporary new age theories, and it is implied that the all-pervasiveness of the new age techniques can be brought into the context of the diminishing power of psychoanalysis. The new age movement will be considered together with Jung’s heritage and the idea of the shattered ego which is a prerequisite for the birth of the self, which is linked to the demand of the new age – that of personal transformation through modified states of consciousness. Within the new age, Freud is generally considered as the apogee of Western rationality, as the apogee of rational thinking which in its enlightenment vein, strove to rationalize the last of all things- the unconscious. Freud, in difference from the new agers, relies on the reign of the conscious part of the personality, or firmnes of the ego as the foundation or guarantor of mental health, as well as keeping a sharp boundary between the conscious and the unconscious

On the Margines of Philosophy: Derrida and Freud

Tekst raščlanjuje Derridaovo razmatranje Freudova pojma nesvjesnog, budući da Derrida smatra da su Freudove različite metafore nesvjesnog – od neurološkog mdoela do čarobnog bloka – izazvane upravo činjenicom da stari koncepti nisu mogli poslužiti Freudovoj psihoanalizi te Freudovo iznalaženje metafora dovodi u vezu sa svojim pojmom différance, smatrajući istovremeno kako Freud time zadaje ozbiljan udarac metafizici jer nesvjesno izmiče svakom upisivanju u već postojeće pojmove logocentrizma, a svoje tragove ostavlja upravo izmičući metafizici prisutnosti. Drugi dio teksta analizira Derridaovu dijagnozu Freudova povratka u metafizički okvir što se događa u Freudovim kasnim tekstovima čime se njegova teorija razotkriva kao prisila ponavljanja starih koncepata prve energetske faze ili, putem prijenosa, kao upisivanje samog Freuda u interpretativne činove psihoanalize, što dovodi do "autotanatografije".This essay encompasses Derrida’s analysis of the Freudian unconscious, as Derrida considers various Freudian metaphors of the unconscious – from the neurological model to the mystic writing-pad – triggered by the fact that old concepts could not serve the psychoanaltyical purpose, and, in the same vein, Derrida considers that Freud, by doing so, executes a blow to metaphysics, as the unconscious eludes any inscription into the already-existing logocentric notions, and leaves its traces by eluding the metaphysics of presence, which makes it similar to the Derridean différance. The second part of the essay analyzes Derrida’s diagnosis of the Freudian return into the metaphysical frame through which his theory is being disclosed as the compulsion to repeat the old energetic concepts or, via transference, as the inscription of Freud himself into the interpretative acts of psychoanalysis, leading to “autotanatography”

Rousseau’s Understanding of Compassion: Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspectives

Članak analizira Rousseauovu upotrebu pojmova ljubavi prema sebi (sebeljublja), samilosti i samoljublja te njihov odnos prema modernim psihoanalitičkim pojmovima. Ljubav prema sebi dovodi se u vezu s Freudovim pojmom samoočuvanja; samoljublje je povezano s narcističkom veličajnošću i bahatošću, dok samilost ukazuje na sličnost s modernim konceptom empatije. Rousseauovo razlikovanje između navedena tri pojma u skladu je s temeljnom rasprom u psihoanalitičkoj teoriji: onoj između nagonskih i objektnih (relacionalnih) teorija. Rousseauova misao može se, predpsihoanalitički, protumačiti u smislu obuhvaćanja obiju strana: njegovo naglašavanje ljubavi prema sebi blisko je nagonskom individualizmu, dok bi samilost bila oblik objektnog odnosa. U konačnici, Rousseauov pojam ljubav prema sebi preklapa se s Kohutovim pojmom zdravog narcizma koji je središnji za razvoj ličnosti, budući da je odsutnost zdravog narcizma podjednako problematična kao i bilo koji patološki oblik narcizma (veličajni ili idealizirajući narcizam).The paper analyses Rousseau’s use of the concepts of self-love, pity (compassion) and vanity, and their relation to modern psychoanalytic concepts. Self-love is brought into relation with Freud’s self-preservation; vanity is coupled with narcissistic grandiosity and arrogance, while pity (compassion) bears resemblances to the modern concept of empathy. Rousseau’s distinction between the three resonates well with the main controversy within psychoanalytic theory: the one between drive theories and object (relational) theories. Rousseau’s thought can be interpreted as embracing both sides avant la lettre: his emphasizing of self-love is close to instinctual individualism, while pity would be a form of objectal relations. In final analysis, Rousseau’s self-love overlaps with Kohut’s concept of healthy narcissism which is central to the development of personality, as the absence of healthy narcissism is equally problematic as any pathological form of narcissism (idealizing or grandiose narcissism)

Psihoanaliza i njezine sudbine: Radovi šestog Okruglog stola Odsjeka za filozofiju

Uzimajući za povod obljetnice dvaju najpoznatijih Freudovih djela, u napetosti između znanstveno-teorijskog optimizma Tumačenja snova i kulturno-povijesnog pesimizma Nelagode u kulturi, željeli bismo iznova ispitati istraživačke potencijale i/ili granice Freudova djela u njegovim različitim aspektima i primjenama na kritičko promišljanje suvremenih fenomena 21. stoljeća. Iako su ta Freudova djela već davno prerasla okvire i doseg pojedinačnih teorema psihoanalize i postala ishodištem kako mnogih znanstvenih doprinosa tokom 20. stoljeća tako i društvenih i kulturnih formi života, poput terapijskih praksâ i primjenâ psihoanalize u akademskim studijima, polazimo od pretpostavke da ta djela i dalje predstavljaju neiscrpljeno teorijsko uporište i metodološki pokretač bazičnih istraživanja od metapsiholoških i analitičko-praktičkih preko filozofskih i znanstveno-teorijskih do njihovih različitih interdisciplinarnih primjenâ na društvene fenomene, uključujući i preoblikovanja psihoanalitičkih teorema u bliskim izvanznanstvenim područjima psihoterapije te prikazivačkih i izvedbenih umjetnosti. (Iz Uvodne riječi.)Uzimajući za povod obljetnice dvaju najpoznatijih Freudovih djela, u napetosti između znanstveno-teorijskog optimizma Tumačenja snova i kulturno-povijesnog pesimizma Nelagode u kulturi, željeli bismo iznova ispitati istraživačke potencijale i/ili granice Freudova djela u njegovim različitim aspektima i primjenama na kritičko promišljanje suvremenih fenomena 21. stoljeća. Iako su ta Freudova djela već davno prerasla okvire i doseg pojedinačnih teorema psihoanalize i postala ishodištem kako mnogih znanstvenih doprinosa tokom 20. stoljeća tako i društvenih i kulturnih formi života, poput terapijskih praksâ i primjenâ psihoanalize u akademskim studijima, polazimo od pretpostavke da ta djela i dalje predstavljaju neiscrpljeno teorijsko uporište i metodološki pokretač bazičnih istraživanja od metapsiholoških i analitičko-praktičkih preko filozofskih i znanstveno-teorijskih do njihovih različitih interdisciplinarnih primjenâ na društvene fenomene, uključujući i preoblikovanja psihoanalitičkih teorema u bliskim izvanznanstvenim područjima psihoterapije te prikazivačkih i izvedbenih umjetnosti. (Iz Uvodne riječi.