The Reality of the Message: Psychoanalysis in the wake of Jean Laplanche

In one of his introductory lectures to psychoanalysis, Freud had this to say: "It is In general not such a common thing for psycho-analysis to deny something asserted by other people; as a rule it merely adds something new-though no doubt it occasionally happens that this thing that has hit her to been overlooked and Is now brought up as a fresh addition Is In fact the essence of the matter." (Freud, 1916-17, p. 45) The remark applies beautifully to the theory of communication or, for that matter, to the theory of human at-tachment. Psychoanalysis has noth-ing to deny in those areas of study, but it has probably something essen-tial to add. "While an indisputable fact about human reality is that of communication and its corollary, making sense of what is communicated, only psychoanal-ysis takes notice of the particular situation created when communication happens between an adult and an infans-literally: the one who does not speak. Nor is it given much attention, even among psychoanalysts, that there is a special 'noise' carried over in the channels of communication between the two, a noise resulting from the difference regarding the uncon-scious sexual dimension." - DOMINIQUE SCARFONE I proposed we have a conversation after each of your essays as a way to engage your work, to ask for clarifications on the reader's behalf, and to multiply the entry points to your thinking. I imagine that these conversations will work cumulatively, taking the reader deeper into each chapter and also showing your way of thinking not by describing it but by exposing the reader to it "in vivo". Part of what your work has offered me personally, which I hope these exchanges will also convey to the reader, is the sheer pleasure of thinking about theory with you- that it's not a stale or inert process but that, on the contrary, it is an experience in itself. - AVGI SAKETOPOULOU Read more