Difference between revisions of "Alienation"

From No Subject - Encyclopedia of Psychoanalysis
Jump to: navigation, search
(The LinkTitles extension automatically added links to existing pages (https://github.com/bovender/LinkTitles).)
 
(18 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
The term 'alienation' (''aliénation'') does not constitute part of Freud's theoretical vocabulary.
+
{{Topp}}alié[[nation]]]]'', [[German]]: ''[[Entfremdung{{Bottom}}
In Lacan's work the term implies both psychiatric and philosophical references:
 
  
==Psychiatry==      
+
==Sigmund Freud==
French psychiatry in the nineteenth century (e.g. Pinel) conceived of mental illness as aliÈnation mentale, and a common term in French for 'madman' is ''aliéné.''<ref>a term which Lacan himself uses; Ec, 154</ref>
+
The term "[[alienation]]" does not constitute part of [[Freud]]'s [[theory|theoretical]] [[:category:concepts|vocabulary]].  
  
==Philosophy==      
+
==Jacques Lacan==
The term 'alienation' is the usual translation for the German term ''Entfremdung'' which features in the philosophy of [[Hegel]] and [[Marx]].
+
===References===
However, the Lacanian concept of alienation differs greatly from the ways that the term is employed in the Hegelian and Marxist tradition.<ref>as [[Jacques-Alain Miller]] points out; Sll, 215</ref>
+
In [[Lacan]]'s [[Jacques Lacan:Bibliography|work]] the term implies both [[psychiatric]] and [[philosophical]] references:
For Lacan, alienation is not an accident that befalls the [[subject]] and which can be transcended, but an essential constitutive feature of the subject.
 
The subject is fundamentally [[split]], alienated from himself, and there is no escape from this division, no possibility of 'wholeness' or synthesis.
 
Alienation is an inevitable consequence of the process by which the [[ego]] is constituted by [[identification]] with the [[counterpart]]: "the initial synthesis of the ego is essentially an alter ego, it is alienated."<ref>S3, 39</ref>
 
In Rimbaud's words, "I is an other."<ref>E, 23</ref>
 
Thus alienation belongs to the [[imaginary]] [[order]]: "Alienation is constitutive of the imaginary order. Alienation is the imaginary as such."<ref>S3, 146</ref>
 
Although alienation is an essential characteristic of all [[subjectivity]], [[psychosis]] represents a more extreme form of alienation.
 
Lacan coined the term ''[[extimacy]]'' to designate the nature of this alienation, in which [[alterity]] inhabits the innermost core of the subject.
 
Lacan devotes the whole of chapter 16 of [[Seminar_XI|The Seminar, Book XI, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis]] (1964a) to a discussion of alienation and the related concept of [[separation]].
 
  
 +
;Psychiatry
 +
[[French]] [[psychiatry]] in the nineteenth century (e.g. Pinel) conceived of [[mental]] [[illness]] as ''[[alienation|aliénation mentale]]'', and a common term in [[French]] for "[[madness|madman]]" is ''[[alienation|aliéné]].''<ref>{{Ec}} p. 154</ref>
  
 +
;Philosophy
 +
The term "[[alienation]]" is the usual [[translation]] for the [[German]] term ''[[alienation|Entfremdung]]'' which features in the '''[[philosophy]]''' of [[Hegel]] and [[Marx]].
  
== References ==
+
However, the [[Lacan]]ian [[concept]] of [[alienation]] differs greatly from the ways that the term is employed in the [[Hegel]]ian and [[Marx]]ist [[tradition]].<ref>{{S11}} p. 215</ref>
<references/>
+
 
 +
===Subject===
 +
For [[Lacan]], [[alienation]] is not an accident that befalls the '''[[subject]]''' and which can be transcended, but an essential constitutive feature of the '''[[subject]]'''.
 +
 
 +
The [[subject]] is fundamentally '''[[split]]''', [[alienation|alienated]] from himself, and there is no escape from this [[division]], no possibility of "[[wholeness]]" or [[synthesis]].
 +
 
 +
===Ego===
 +
[[Alienation]] is an inevitable consequence of the [[process]] by which the '''[[ego]]''' is constituted by '''[[identification]]''' with the [[counterpart]]:
 +
 
 +
<blockquote>"The initial synthesis of the ''ego'' is essentially an ''alter ego'', it is alienated."<ref>{{S3}} p. 39</ref></blockquote>
 +
 
 +
In Rimbaud's [[words]], "I is an [[other]]."<ref>{{E}} p. 23</ref>
 +
 
 +
===Imaginary===
 +
Thus [[alienation]] belongs to the '''[[imaginary]] [[order]]''':
 +
 
 +
<blockquote>"Alienation is constitutive of [[the imaginary]] order. Alienation is [[The Imaginary|the imaginary]] as such."<ref>{{S3}} p. 146</ref></blockquote>
 +
 
 +
===Psychosis===
 +
Although [[alienation]] is an essential characteristic of all [[subjectivity]], '''[[psychosis]]''' represents a more extreme [[form]] of [[alienation]].
 +
 
 +
==="Extimacy"===
 +
[[Lacan]] coined the term "'''[[extimacy]]'''" to designate the [[nature]] of this [[alienation]], in which [[alterity]] inhabits the innermost core of the [[subject]].
  
PAGES 24, 25-6, 65, 71-2, 74, 89, 102 HOMER
+
===Separation===
 +
[[Lacan]] devotes the [[whole]] of chapter 16 of [[Seminar_XI|The Seminar, Book XI, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis]] (1964a) to a [[discussion]] of [[alienation]] and the related concept of '''[[separation]]'''.
  
 
==See Also==
 
==See Also==
* [[Separation]]
+
{{See}}
 +
* [[Counterpart]]
 +
* [[Ego-ideal]]
 +
||
 +
* ''[[Extimacy]]''
 +
* [[Identification]]
 +
||
 
* [[Imaginary]]
 
* [[Imaginary]]
 +
* [[Mirror stage]]
 +
||
 +
* [[Philosophy]]
 +
* [[Psychosis]]
 +
||
 +
* [[Split]]
 +
* [[Subject]]
 +
{{Also}}
  
 +
==References==
 +
<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small">
 +
<references/>
 +
</div>
  
 
+
[[Category:Philosophy]]
 +
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
 +
[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
 
[[Category:Imaginary]]
 
[[Category:Imaginary]]
[[Category:Lacan]]
+
[[Category:Dictionary]]
 +
[[Category:Concepts]]
 
[[Category:Terms]]
 
[[Category:Terms]]
[[Category:Concepts]]
+
[[Category:New]]
[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
+
{{OK}}
 +
 
 +
__NOTOC__

Latest revision as of 18:02, 27 May 2019

Sigmund Freud

The term "alienation" does not constitute part of Freud's theoretical vocabulary.

Jacques Lacan

References

In Lacan's work the term implies both psychiatric and philosophical references:

Psychiatry

French psychiatry in the nineteenth century (e.g. Pinel) conceived of mental illness as aliénation mentale, and a common term in French for "madman" is aliéné.[1]

Philosophy

The term "alienation" is the usual translation for the German term Entfremdung which features in the philosophy of Hegel and Marx.

However, the Lacanian concept of alienation differs greatly from the ways that the term is employed in the Hegelian and Marxist tradition.[2]

Subject

For Lacan, alienation is not an accident that befalls the subject and which can be transcended, but an essential constitutive feature of the subject.

The subject is fundamentally split, alienated from himself, and there is no escape from this division, no possibility of "wholeness" or synthesis.

Ego

Alienation is an inevitable consequence of the process by which the ego is constituted by identification with the counterpart:

"The initial synthesis of the ego is essentially an alter ego, it is alienated."[3]

In Rimbaud's words, "I is an other."[4]

Imaginary

Thus alienation belongs to the imaginary order:

"Alienation is constitutive of the imaginary order. Alienation is the imaginary as such."[5]

Psychosis

Although alienation is an essential characteristic of all subjectivity, psychosis represents a more extreme form of alienation.

"Extimacy"

Lacan coined the term "extimacy" to designate the nature of this alienation, in which alterity inhabits the innermost core of the subject.

Separation

Lacan devotes the whole of chapter 16 of The Seminar, Book XI, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis (1964a) to a discussion of alienation and the related concept of separation.

See Also

References

  1. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p. 154
  2. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book XI. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, 1964. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1977. p. 215
  3. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book III. The Psychoses, 1955-56. Trans. Russell Grigg. London: Routledge, 1993. p. 39
  4. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p. 23
  5. Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book III. The Psychoses, 1955-56. Trans. Russell Grigg. London: Routledge, 1993. p. 146