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[[biology]] (''[[{{Topp}}biologie]]'') {{Bottom}}

==Sigmund Freud and Biology==[[Freud]]'s [[Sigmund Freud:Bibliography|work ]] is [[full ]] of references to [[biology]]. [[Freud]] regarded [[biology]] as a [[model ]] of [[scientific rigour ]] rigor on which to base the new [[science]] of [[psychoanalysis]].

==Jacques Lacan's Critique of 'Biologism'==[[Lacan]], however, is strongly opposed to any attempt to [[construct ]] [[psychoanalysis]] upon a [[biology|biologicalmodel]] model, arguing that the direct application of [[biological]] (or [[nature|ethological]]/[[psychology|psychological]]) [[:category:concepts|concepts ]] (such as [[adaptation]]) to [[psychoanalysis]] will inevitably be misleading and will obliterate the essential [[distinction ]] between [[nature]] and [[:category:culture|culture]].

Such biologising [[biology|biologizing explanations ]] of [[human|human behaviour behavior]] ignore, according to [[Lacan]], the ''primacy '' of the [[symbolicorder]] in [[orderhuman]] [[existence]]. [[Lacan]] sees this "[[biology|biologism]] " in human the [[work]] of those [[psychoanalyst]]s who have confused [[desire]] with [[need]], and [[drives]] with [[instinct]]s, [[existence:category:concepts|concepts]]which he insists on distinguishing.

===History===These arguments are evident from the very earliest of [[Lacan]] sees this 's [[psychoanalytic]] [[biologismWorks of Jacques Lacan|writings]]. In his [[{{Y}}|1938]' in ] [[Jacques Lacan:Bibliography|work]] on the work of those [[psychoanalystsfamily]], for example, he rejects any attempt to explain [[family]] who have confused [[desirestructure]] with s on the basis of purely [[needscience|biological data]], and argues that [[human]] [[drivespsychology]] with is regulated by [[instinctscomplex]], concepts which he insists on distinguishinges rather than by [[instinct]]s.<ref>{{1938}} pp. 23-4</ref>

These arguments are evident from ====Science====[[Lacan]] argues that his [[refusal]] of [[science|biological reductionism]] is not a ''[[contradiction]]'' of [[Freud]] but a ''[[return]]'' to the very earliest [[essence]] of [[LacanFreud]]'s psychoanalytic writings[[Works of Sigmund Freud|work]].When [[Freud]] used [[biology|biological models]], he did so because [[biology]] was at that [[time]] a model of [[science|scientific rigor]] in general, and because the [[science|conjectural science]]s had not then achieved the same degree of rigor.

In his 1938 work on the [[familyFreud]] certainly did not confuse [[psychoanalysis]] with [[biology]] or any [[other]] exact [[science]], for example, and when he rejects any attempt to explain borrowed [[family:category:concepts|concepts]] from [[structurebiology]]s on (such as the basis [[:category:concepts|concept]] of purely the [[biologicaldrive]] data, and argues that ) he reworked [[humanthem]] in such a radical way that they become totally new [[psychology:category:concepts|concepts]] is regulated by . For example, the [[complex:category:concepts|concept]]es rather than by of the [[death instinct]]s"is not a question of biology."<ref>{{E}} p. 102</ref> [[Lacan, 1938]] expresses this point with a [[paradox]]: 23-4<blockquote>"[[Freudian]] biology has [[nothing]] to do with biology."<ref>{{S2}} p. 75</ref></blockquote>

=====Phallus=====[[Lacan]] argues that his refusal , like [[Freud]], uses [[:category:concepts|concepts]] borrowed from [[biology]] (i.e. [[imago]], dehiscence), and then reworks them in an entirely [[symbolic]] framework. Perhaps the most significant example of this is [[Lacan]]'s [[biologicalconcept]] of the [[phallus]], which he conceives as a [[signifier]] reductionism is and not as a contradiction [[body|bodily organ]]. Thus while [[Freud]] conceives of the [[castration complex]] and [[sexual difference]] in [[Freudterms]] of the [[presence]] and [[absence]] of the [[penis]], [[Lacan]] theorizes them in [[biology|non-biological]], [[biology|non-anatomical]] terms -- the [[presence]] and [[absence]] of the [[phallus]]. This has been one of the main attractions of [[Lacan]]ian [[theory]] for certain [[feminist]] but writers who have seen it as a way of constructing a [[returnbiology|non-essentialist]] to the essence account of gendered [[Freudsubjectivity]]'s work.

When [[Freud]] used [[biological]] models, he did so simply because [[biology]] was at that time a model of scientific rigour in general, and because the conjectural [[science]]s had not then achieved the same degree of rigour.  [[Freud]] certainly did not confuse [[psychoanalysis]] with [[biology]] or any other exact [[science]], and when he borrowed concepts from [[biology]] (such as the concept of the [[drive]) he reworked them in such a radical way that they become totally new concepts.  For example, the concept of the [[death instinct]] "is not a question of biology."<ref>{{E}} p.102</ref>  [[Lacan]] expresses his point with a [[paradox]]: "Freudian biology has nothing to do with biology."<ref>{{S2}} p.75</ref> [[Lacan]], like [[Freud]], uses concepts borrowed from [[biology]], and then reworks them in an entirely [[symbolic]] framework. ==Phallus==Perhaps the most significant example of this is [[Lacan]]'s concept of the [[phallus]], which he conceives as a [[signifier]] and not as a bodily organ.  Thus while [[Freud]] conceives of the [[castration complex]] and [[sexual difference]] in terms of the [[presence]] and [[absence]] of the [[penis]], Lacan theorises them in non-biological, non-anatomical terms (the [[presence]] and [[absence]] of the [[phallus]]). This has been one of the main attractions of [[Lacan]]ian theory for certain [[:category:feminist theory|feminist]] writers who have seen it as a way of constructing a [[essentialism|non-essentialist]] account of gendered [[subjectivity]]. =Culture===Culturalism==However, while [[Lacan]] consistently rejects all forms of [[science|biologicalreductionism]] reductionism, he also rejects the [[culture|culturalist ]] [[position ]] which completely ignores the relevance of [[biology]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.723</ref>. If 'biologising' "[[biology|biologizing]]" is [[understood ]] correctly (that is, not as the reduction of [[psychic ]] phenomena to crude [[biology|biological determination]], but as discerning the precise way in which biological data impact on the [[psychical ]] field), then [[Lacan]] is all in favour favor of biologising [[biology|biologizing thought]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.723</ref>  The clearest examples of this are [[Lacan]]'s appeals to examples from [[animal ]] [[nature|ethology ]] to demonstrate the [[power ]] of images [[image]]s to act as releasing mechanisms; hence [[Lacan]]'s references to pigeons and locusts in his account of the [[mirror stage]],<ref>{{E}} p.3</ref>, and to crustaceans in his account of [[mimicry]].<ref>{{SllS11}} p.99</ref>  Thus in his account of [[sexual difference]], [[Lacan]] follows [[Freud]]'s [[rejection ]] of the [[false ]] dichotomy between "anatomy or convention"."<ref>{{F}} ''[[Works of Sigmund Freud|New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis]]'', 1933a: [[SE ]] XXII, 1933a. p. 114</ref>  [[Lacan]]'s concern is not to privilege either term but to show how both interact in complex ways in the process of assuming a sexual position.

==See Also==* [[Science]]* [[Nature]]   [[Category:Terms]]{{OK}}[[Category:ConceptsFreudian psychology]]