Table Of ContentTHE PALGRAVE LACAN SERIES
SERIES EDITORS: CALUM NEILL · DEREK HOOK
(Mis)Understanding
Freud with Lacan, Zizek,
and Neuroscience
RobeRt SamuelS
The Palgrave Lacan Series
Series Editors
Calum Neill
Edinburgh Napier University
Edinburgh, UK
Derek Hook
Duquesne University
Pittsburgh, USA
Jacques Lacan is one of the most important and influential thinkers of
the 20th century. The reach of this influence continues to grow as we
settle into the 21st century, the resonance of Lacan’s thought arguably
only beginning now to be properly felt, both in terms of its application
to clinical matters and in its application to a range of human activities
and interests. The Palgrave Lacan Series is a book series for the best new
writing in the Lacanian field, giving voice to the leading writers of a new
generation of Lacanian thought. The series will comprise original mono-
graphs and thematic, multi-authored collections. The books in the series
will explore aspects of Lacan’s theory from new perspectives and with
original insights. There will be books focused on particular areas of or
issues in clinical work. There will be books focused on applying Lacanian
theory to areas and issues beyond the clinic, to matters of society, politics,
the arts and culture. Each book, whatever its particular concern, will
work to expand our understanding of Lacan’s theory and its value in the
21st century.
Robert Samuels
(Mis)Understanding
Freud with Lacan,
Zizek, and
Neuroscience
Robert Samuels
Writing Program
University of California, Santa Barbara
Goleta, CA, USA
The Palgrave Lacan Series
ISBN 978-3-031-13326-8 ISBN 978-3-031-13327-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13327-5
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Dedicated to Madeleine and Sophia
Contents
1 I ntroduction 1
2 F reud’s Project 7
3 Neuroscience and the Repression of Psychoanalysis 29
4 Moving from Freud’s Five Principles to Lacan’s Four
Fundamental Concepts 63
5 The Desire of the Analyst and the American Repression
of Psychoanalysis 105
6 Zizek and the Empty Unconscious 131
7 Misunderstanding Psychoanalysis from the Left 159
8 Conclusion: Still (Mis)Understanding Psychoanalysis 185
I ndex 191
vii
1
Introduction
The main argument of this book is that psychoanalytic theory and prac-
tice is structured by five threshold concepts, yet these principles are
rarely understood—even by psychoanalysts themselves. In examining
the original meanings of the pleasure principle, the primary processes,
the unconscious, transference, and the reality principle, I hope to pro-
vide a stable and clear ground for this important discipline. I will also
focus on the many ways these core concepts are distorted and repressed.
While the psychoanalyst must remain open and unbiased during treat-
ment in order enable the uncensored free association of the patent, this
analytic position is determined by a clear understanding of the theory’s
key concepts.
I will argue that in his early Project for a Scientific Psychology, Freud
develops a narrative of human development that will continue to shape
his work throughout his life.1 I consider this unpublished text to be the
blueprint and key to psychoanalysis because it presents his five central
concepts in one complete system. Freud’s early work is also important
because it aimed to ground psychoanalysis in neurology; however, Freud
also introduces a vital challenge to the brain sciences.2
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 1
R. Samuels, (Mis)Understanding Freud with Lacan, Zizek, and Neuroscience, The
Palgrave Lacan Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13327-5_1
2 R. Samuels
Book Outline
Following this introduction, Chap. 2 offers a close reading of Freud’s
Project for a Scientific Psychology in order to define the original meanings
of the pleasure principle, the primary processes, transference, repression,
and the reality principle. One of the main arguments of this chapter is
that Freud’s basic theory is often misunderstood because his central con-
cepts are counter-intuitive and threatening to our own egos and views of
society and the mind.3 Moreover, I stress the close relation between psy-
choanalytic theory and practice as a way of indicating that any misunder-
standing of his original principles results in deviations in treatment.
To help elucidate how these basic psychoanalytic concepts have been
misunderstood, in Chap. 3, I read closely Mark Solm’s The Hidden Spring:
A Journey to the Source of Consciousness.4 With this sustained attempt to
combine psychoanalysis and neuroscience, we see how Freud’s insights
are often distorted and repressed by the new brain sciences. Even though
Freud did begin his work as a neurologist, I posit that his anticipation of
neuroscientific thinking actually goes against the main arguments of con-
temporary brain scientists. Moreover, throughout this book, I will claim
that psychoanalysis provides the most effective and realistic scientific
understanding of the human mind.
Chapter 4 examines Lacan’s The Four Concepts of Psychoanalysis.5
Although Lacan also looks at transference and the unconscious, his con-
ceptions of the drives and repetition distort some of Freud’s central prin-
ciples. Furthermore, he often confuses the pleasure principle with the
primary processes as he replaces the reality principle with the concept of
repetition. Most importantly, Lacan conflates the primary processes with
the unconscious as he downplays repression and focuses on how the
unconscious is structured like a language.
Chapter 5 looks at Mitchell Wilson’s The Analyst’s Desire in order to
show how a contemporary psychoanalyst misunderstands Freud’s and
Lacan’s basic insights.6 In stressing the role played by the analyst’s desire,
Wilson reveals why so many analysts resist the analytic process itself.
What is so instructive about this work is that is demonstrates how psy-
choanalysis can be repressed within psychoanalysis.
1 Introduction 3
In Chap. 6, I read Slavoj Zizek’s The Sublime Object of ideology as an
effort to repress the content of psychoanalysis.7 In his desire to combine
Marx, Lacan, and Hegel, we shall see how Zizek ends up producing a
cynical theory of cynicism as a new form of behaviorism is equated with
ideology and contemporary social practices.
Chapter 7 examines the book Intersectionality and Psychoanalysis to
explore the conflict between identity politics and psychoanalytic prac-
tice.8 My main argument is that psychoanalytic treatment is centered on
the neutrality of the analyst and the free association of the patient, and
this open discourse is narrowed and limited by a concern for issues con-
cerning race, gender, and class. My point is not to dismiss these vital
social influences; instead, I hope to show how any and every social factor
can be voiced in the analytic process.
Method
This book focuses on close readings of specific primary texts in order to
examine the actual words and ideas of the authors under consideration.9
I do not provide a survey of the field; instead, I concentrate on clarifying
Freud’s key insights, and then I look at some of the ways these concepts
are being misunderstood by influential theorists and practitioners.
Throughout this work, psychoanalysis is seen as a universal discourse that
addresses subjective, cultural, and historical differences. As a product of
the Enlightenment, Freud’s theories apply the scientific method to every-
day experiences and thoughts, and this entails taking an unbiased per-
spective in relation to material evidence.10 Thus, while Freud is often
attacked for being unscientific, I posit that his method is actually more
scientific than many other current approaches to human subjectivity.11
While my book does focus on Freud’s main concepts, the goal is not to
say that Freud is always right or even that he fully understands the impli-
cations of his own theories. Since it took him a long time to discover free
association and analytic neutrality, his practice often lags behind his the-
ory, and yet his central concepts are also shaped by his clinical experi-
ence.12 Moreover, Freud often uses concepts and metaphors borrowed
from biology, chemistry, and physics in order to represent symbolic ideas,
