Freud as Philosopher: Metapsychology After Lacan

350 Pages·2001·3.28 MB·English

by  Richard Boothby

Freud
Philosopher
as

Freud
Philosopher
as
METAPSYCHOLOGY AFTER LACAN
RICHARD BOOTHBY
ROUTLEDGE NEW YORK AND LONDON
Published in 2001 by
Routledge
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Copyright © 2001 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publishing Data
Boothby, Richard, 1954-
Freud as philosopher: metapsychology after Lacan / Richard Boothby.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-92589--4--ISBN 0-415-92590-8 (pbk)
1. Psychoanalysis and philosophy. 2. Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939. 3. Lacan,Jacques,
1901- I. Title.
BF17S.4.P45 B66 2001
150.19'Sdc2I 00-068964
Where is my metapsychology? In the first place, it remains unwritten.
Working-over matenal systematically is not possible for me; the frag-
mentary nature of my observations and the sporadic character of my
ideas will not permit ¡t. If, however, I should live another ten years,
remain capable of work during that time.. . then I promise to make
further contributions to it.
Sigmund Freud, letter to Lou Andreas-Salomé
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are grateful for permission to reprint selected excerpts from the fol-
lowing: Crises in Continental Philosophy: Selected Studies in Phenomenology
and Existentialism, edited by Arleen B. Daliery Charles E. Scott and P. Holley
Roberts. Copyright 1990. Reprinted by permission of State University of
New York Press. The Origins of Psychoanalysis: Letters to Wilhelm Fliess by
Sigmund Freud, edited by Marie Bonaparte, Anna Freud, and Ernst Kris,
authorized translation by Eric Mosbacher and James Strachey. Copyright
1954 by Basic Books, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Basic Books, a
member of Perseus Books, L.L.C. The Psychopathology ofEveryday L!fè by
Sigmund Freud, edited and translated by James Strachey. Copyright ©
1965, 1960 by James Strachey. translated copyright © by Alan Tyson.
Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. The Standard
Edition oft he Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, translated and
edited by James Strachey. Sigmund Freud © Copyrights. Reprinted by
permission of The Institute of Psychoanalysis and the Hogarth Press. Six
Lectures on Sound and Meaning by Roman Jakobson, translated by James
Mepham. Reprinted by permission of MIT Press. Principles of Psychology
VII
Volume i by William James. Reprinted by permission of Dover Books.
Ecrits:A Selection by Jacques Lacan, translated by Alan Sheridan. Copyright
© 1966 by Les Editions du Seuil. English translation copyright © 1977
by Travistock Publications. Used by permission of W. W. Norton &
Company, [nc. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis by
Jacques Lacan, translated by Alan Sheridan. Copyright © 1975 by Les
Editions du Seuil. English translation copyright © 1977 by Alan
Sheridan. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. The
Seminar ofJacques Lacan: Book I: Freud's Papers on Technique .1953-1954 by
Jacques Lacan, translated by John Forrester. Copyright © 1975 by Les
Editions du Seuil. English translation copyright © 1988 by Cambridge
University Press. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
The Seminar ofJacques Lacan: Book IL The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the
Technique of Psychoanalysis by Jacques Lacan, translated by Sylvia
Tomaselli. Copyright © 1978 by Les Editions du Seuil. English transla-
tion copyright © 1988 by Cambridge University Press. Used by permis-
sion of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. The Seminar ofJacques Lacan Book
VuThe Ethics of Psychoanalysis by Jacques Lacan, edited by Jacques-
Alain Miller, translated by Dennis Porter. Copyright © 1986 by Les
Editions du Seuil. English translation copyright © 1992 byW. W. Norton
& Company, Inc. Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, mc,
and from Routledge. Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-
Ponty, translated by Colin Smith. Reprinted by permission of
Northwestern University Press.
The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Loyola College
Center for the Humanities in the writing and publication of this book.
VIII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
PREFACE xiii
LIST OF BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS
USED IN THE TEXT xvii
i
INTRODUCTION Returning to Metapsychology
To Recall Freud's Witch 2
The Lacanian Return to Freud 9
CHAPTER ONE Toward the Unthought Ground of Thought 17
Mon ets Pursuit of the EnveIoppe" 18
The World of the Water Lilies 21
The Class of 1890: James, Bergson, and Nietzsche 26
Gestalt Psychology and Phenomenology 37
Heidegger: The Disposition of Being 43
The Gestaltist Ontology of Merleau-Ponty 54
The Unthought Ground of Thought in the Freudian
Unconscious 61
CHAPTER TWO Between the Image and the Word 71
In the Shadow of the Image 72
The Unconscious Play of the Signifier 78
From Image to Sign 86
The Ratman's Phantasy 94
The Specimen Dream of Psychoanalysis 99
In the Navel of the Dream 105
The Dreams Solution 114
Circulation in the Psychical Apparatus 119
The Metaphoric and Metonymic Poles 124
CHAPTER THREE The Freudian Dialectic 133
The Formative Power of the Image 134
Imaginary Alienation 141
Aggressivity and the Death Drive 150
The Agency of Death in the Signifier 154
Language Acquisition and the Oedipus Complex 163
Psychoanalysis and the Theory of Sacrifice 175
Toward a Lacanian Theory of Sacrifice 183
CHAPTER FOUR The Freudian Thing 191
ALovelriangle 193
The Thing about the Other 198
Thing or No-thing 209
Speaking of the Thing 216
Freud avec Jakobson 224
X CONTENTS