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Affect

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In [[Freud]]'s work, the term '"[[affect]]' " stands in opposition to the term '"[[idea]]'".
The opposition between the affective and the intellectual is one of the oldest themes in [[philosophy]], and made its way into [[Freud]]'s vocabulary via [[German]] [[psychology]].
 
--
For [[Lacan]], however, the opposition between the [[affective]] and the [[intellectual]] is not valid in the psychoanalytic field.
'"This opposition is one of the most contrary to analytic experience and most unenlightening when it comes to understanding it' (Sl, ."<ref>{{S1}} p.274).</ref> --
Thus, in response to those who accuse [[Lacan]] of being over-[[intellectual]] and of neglecting the role of [[affect]], it can be pointed out that this [[criticism]] is based on what [[Lacan]] saw as a false opposition.
[[Psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] is based on the [[symbolic]] [[order]], which transcends the opposition between [[affect]] and [[intellect]].
On the one hand, [[psychoanalytic]] experience '"is not that of an affective smoochy-woochy' (Sl."<ref>{{S1}} p.55</ref>  On the other hand, 55)nor is [[psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] an intellectual affair.
On the other hand, nor is [[psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] an intellectual affair; 'we <blockquote>"We are not dealing here with an intellectual dimension' (Sl, ."<ref>{{S1}} p.274). </ref></blockquote>
The [[Lacan]]ian [[psychoanalyst]] must thus be aware of the ways in which both '"affective smoochy-woochy' " and intellectualisation can be [[resistance]]s to [[analysis]], [[imaginary]] [[lure]]s of the [[ego]].
[[Anxiety]] is the only [[affect]] that is not deceptive.
 
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[[Lacan]] is opposed to those [[analyst]]s who have taken the [[affect]]ive realm as primary, for the [[affect]]ive is not a separate realm opposed to the [[intellectual]].
'<blockquote>"The affective is not like a special density which would escape an intellectual accounting. It is not to be found in a mythical beyond of the production of the symbol which would precede the discursive formulation.'"<ref>Sl, {{S1}} p.57</ref></blockquote>
However, he rejects accusations of neglecting the role of [[affect]], pointing to the fact that a whole year of the [[seminar]] is dedicated precisely to discussing [[anxiety]] (.<ref>Lacan, 1973a: 38).</ref> --
[[Lacan]] does not propose a general theory of affects, but only touches on them insofar as they impinge on psychoanalytic treatment.
He argues that [[affect]]s are not [[signifier]]s but [[signal]]s (S7, 102-3), and emphasises [[Freud]]'s position that [[repression]] does not bear upon the [[affect]] (which can only be transformed or [[displacement|displaced]]) but upon the ideational representative (which is, in [[Lacan]]'s terms, the [[signifier]]) (Ec, 714).
 
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[[Lacan]]'s comments on the concept of [[affect]] have important implications in [[clinical]] [[practice]].
Firstly, all the concepts in [[psychoanalysis]] which have traditionally been conceived in terms of [[affect]]s, such as the [[transference]], must be rethought in terms of their [[symbolic]] [[structure]], if the [[analyst]] is to direct the [[treatment]] correctly.
 
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Secondly, the [[affect]]s are [[lure]]s which can deceive the [[analyst]], and hence the [[analyst]] must be wary of being tricked by his own [[affect]]s.
This does not mean that the [[analyst]] must disregard his own feelings for the [[patient]], but simply that he must know how to make adequate use of them.
 
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Finally, it follows that the aim of [[psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] is not the reliving of [[past]] experiences, nor the [[abreaction]] of [[affect]], but the articulation in [[speech]] of the [[truth]] about [[desire]].
 
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Another term in [[Lacan]]'s [[discourse]], related to but distinct from '[[affect]]', is the term '[[passion]]'.
These [[passion]]s are not [[imaginary]] phenomena, but located at the junctions between the three [[order]]s.
AFFECT==See Also==word borrowed from the * [[GermanTruth]] ''Affekt''.  In nineteenth-century [[psychology]] the term is synonymous with [[emotion]] or [[excitement]].  Borrowing from that tradition, [[psychoanalysis]] defines [[afect]] as a quantity of [[psychic]] [[energy]] or a sum of [[excitation]] accompanying events that take place in the [[life]] of the [[psyche]].
[[Affect]] is not a direct [[emotion]]al [[representation]] of an [[event]], but a [[trace]] or residue that is aroused or reactivated through the [[repetition]] of that [[event]] of by some equivalent to it.
 
Like [[libido]], [[affect]] is quantifiable and both [[drives]] and [[image]]s are therefore said to have a quota of affect.
 
In [[Freud]]'s earliest theory of [[hysteria]] (the so-called [[seduction thoery]]), the blocking of the [[affect]] correspodning to a [[trauma]]tic [[event]] has a causal role; because it cannot be expressed or discharged in [[word]]s, it takes the form of a [[somatic]] [[symptom]].
 
In his later writings [[Freud]] consistently makes a distinction between [[affect]] and [[representation]]s, which may be either [[verbal]] or [[visual]].
 
The [[verbalization]] of the [[talking cure]] thus becomes an intellectualized way of [[discharging]] [[affect]]s relating to [[childhood]] [[experience]]s.
 
One of the [[criticism]]s levelled at [[Lacan]] by certain of his fellow [[psychoanalyst]]s is that he tends to pay little attention to [[affect]].
 
==More==
Affect :
 
Ideas, abstract concepts of instinctual wishes ; emotions, motoric and secretary discharges connected with instinctual tension (pleasure-unpleasure principle)
 
Affect :
 
Terme général pour exprimer tous les phénomènes de l’affectivité c’est-à-dire toutes les nuances du plaisir et de la douleur.
 
affect 217 [[Seminar XI]]
== References ==
<references/>
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]][[Category:Dictionary]][[Category:Jacques Lacan]][[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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