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The idea of =====Sigmund Freud=====In [[Freud]]'s [[work]], [[sublimation leads back at once to ]] is a [[process]] in which the alchemical metaphor of the transmutation of base metal [[libido]] is channelled into gold, apparently non-[[sexual]] activities such as artistic creation and to aesthetics, [[intellectual]] work. [[Sublimation]] thus functions as a socially acceptable escape valve for [[excess]] sexual [[energy]] which from the ancient world (Longinus) would otherwise have to Romanticism be [[discharged]] in socially unacceptable forms (Goethe[[perverse]] [[behavior]]) saw or in [[neurotic]] [[symptom]]s. The [[logical]] conclusion of such a view is that [[complete]] [[sublimation]] would mean the sublime as the transcendence end of the individual's limitationsall [[perversion]] and all [[neurosis]]. The concept evolved However, many points remain unclear in [[Freud]]'s work from the idea account of the ennoblement or embellishment of a fantasy (Draft L [1950a (1895)[sublimation]]) to that of a genuine intra-instinctual process, the transformation of object libido into ego libido before it could assume new aims (1923b).

The unresolved complexity of =====Jacques Lacan=====[[Lacan]]s takes up the notion [[concept]] of [[sublimation means, however, ]] in his [[seminar]] of 1959-60. He follows [[Freud]] in emphasizing the fact that the term designates a set element of questions rather than a well-circumscribed [[social]] [[recognition]] is central to the concept (Laplanche, 1980)since it is only insofar as the [[drive]]s are diverted towards this [[dimension]] of shared social values that they can be said to be sublimated.<ref>{{S7}} p. 144</ref> It is this dimension of shared social values which allows [[Lacan]] to tie in the concept of [[sublimation]] with his [[discussion]] of [[ethics]].<ref>{{S7}} p.144</ref>

Sublimation would appear to be a very special vicissitude of the instinct, for its diversion of libidinal energy harnesses instinctual impulses in a way congenial to the superego =====Differences - Freud and its society. Retransformation is possibleLacan=====However, however, and therein the original instinctual force may regain the upper hand (resexualization of sublimated homosexual impulses (1911c [1910[Lacan]])). Desexualization alone cannot define the process 's account of [[sublimation, which is not to be confused with inhibition or reaction formations, even if it plays ]] also differs from [[Freud]]'s on a fundamental role because [[number]] of its ability to exchange an originally sexual aim for another, which is its "psychical parent" (1908d)points.

As for =====Perversion=====[[Freud]]'s account implies that [[perversion|perverse sexuality]] as a [[form]] of direct [[satisfaction]] of the effect of [[drive]] is possible, and that [[sublimation on the object it valorizes ]] is only necessary because this direct form in the eyes of prohibited by [[society, Freud took great care to discourage any risk of confusion between sublimation and idealization, the latter implying an overestimation of the supposedly "sublime" object (1914c)]].

The development of [[Lacan]] however rejects the ability to sublimate ("Fähigkeit zur Sublimierung") was related for Freud both to the individual's constitutional disposition (the initial strength cocnept of the sexual instinct) and to the events of childhood (the link between trauma and the intensity a zero degree of infantile curiosity; cf.satisfaction, the case of Leonardo da Vinci being arguing that [[perversion]] is not simply a good example). Sublimation occurred at the expense brute [[natural]] means of discharging the polymorphously perverse drives of childhood (especially bisexuality)[[libido]], but a highly [[structure]]d relation to the [[drive]]s which were diverted and applied to other aimsare already, as witness the sublimation of anal eroticism into an interest in money, or the link between urethral eroticism and ambition. This process contributed to the formation of character traits. The component instincts were of particular significance here: the instinct to see could be sublimated into artistic contemplation and into the instinct to know (1910c)themselves, while sublimated aggression could manifest itself as creative and innovative activity[[linguistic]] rather than [[biological]] forces.

But Whereas [[Freud always emphasized the risks associated with ]] believed that complete [[sublimation of the instincts when it takes place at the expense of the sexual and deprives the subject of immediate satisfaction. Although sublimation appears as the guarantor of the social bond and promoter of culture]] might be possible for some particularly refined or cultured [[people]], it is, nonetheless, a dangerous demand, a [[Lacan]] argues that "ruse of civilization" (Mellor-Picaut, 1979) when it presents individual sublimations as ideal models. For Freud, complete sublimation is not possible for the core of an axiological approach to psychoanalysis, and the introduction of narcissism represented an important turning point in his theory[[individual]]. Sublimation took place "through the mediation of the ego, which begins by changing sexual object-libido into narcissistic libido, and then perhaps goes on to give it a different aim" (1923b, <ref>{{S7}} p. 30). Sublimation no longer occurs at the expense of the object-libido but offers the narcissistic libido a needed extension. However, it does not protect the individual, who is left at the mercy of the death instinct.91</ref>

=====Object=====In [[Freud was against making ]]'s account, [[sublimation a privileged goal ]] involves the redirection of the treatment, one that could even be advocated by the analyst (1915a [1914[drive]]to a different (non-sexual)object. In this[[Lacan]]'s account, he disagreed with Carl G. Jung (1914d)however, as well as Lou Andreas-Salomé, whom he had also accused of "blab-bering about what changes is not the ideal" object but its [[position]] in his letters to Jung (January 10, 1912), James J. Putnam (May 4, 1911), and Oskar Pfister (October 9, 1918). In all these cases he was struggling against the temptation [[structure]] of an anagogic approach to psychoanalysis. It may be assumed that this threat of having such a complex concept corrupted contributed to the fact that it has never been thoroughly developed. One thinks in particular of an unpublished draft on sublimation written for Freud's projected book on metapsychology[[fantasy]].

The concept In [[other]] [[words]], [[sublimation]] does not involve directing the [[drive]] to a different [[object]], but rather changing the [[nature]] of sublimation has been discussed by many the [[object]] to which the [[drive]] was already directed, a "[[change]] of Freud's followersobject in itself, though without any significant contributions being " something which is made to metapsychology. In later years Melanie Klein became one possible because the [[drive]] is "already deeply marked by the articulation of the most important commentators on sublimation, primarily in connection with epistemophilia[[signifier]]. In France, Daniel Lagache (1962) and Jean Laplanche (1980) have both written essays on sublimation"<ref>{{S7}} p.293</ref>

Sublimation, which The [[sublime]] quality of an [[object]] is often mentioned in thus not due to any intrinsic property of the literature[[object]] itself, by emphasizing but simply an effect of the desexualization of goals and [[object]]'s position in the social valorization [[symbolic]] [[structure]] of the object, remains both an essential concept and an unresolved question for psychoanalysis[[fantasy]].

See also: Anality; Analytic psychology; Anthropology and psychoanalysis; Applied psychoanalysis and the interactions of psychoanalysis; Character; Civilization (Kultur); Defense; Depressive position; Desexualization; Drive; Ego; Ego autonomy; Ego and the Id, The; Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense, The; Eroticism, anal; Eroticism, urethral; Friendship; Group psychology; ; Idealization; Identification with the aggressor; Ideology; Intellectualization; Knowledge (instinct for); Latency period; Law of the Father; Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of his Childhood; Pleasure ego/reality ego; Pleasure of thinking; Psychic apparatus; Reaction formation; Reciprocal paths of influence (libidinal coexcitation); Reparation; Repetition; Rite and ritual; Science and psychoanalysis; Sexuality; Superego; Symbol; Symbolization, process of; Thought; Work (as a psychoanalytic concept); Working-off mechanisms.Bibliography  * Freud. Sigmund. (1908d). "Civilized" sexual morality and modern nervous illness. SE, 9: 177-204. * ——. (1910c). Leonardo da Vinci and a memory of his childhood. SE, 11: 57-137. * ——. (1915a [1914]). Observations on transference love. (Further recommendations on the technique of psychoanalysis III). SE, 12: 157-171. * ——. (1914d). On the history of the psycho-analytic movement. SE, 14: 1-66. * ——. (1930a [1929]). Civilization and its discontents. SE, 21: 57-145. * ——. (1923b). The ego and the id. SE, 19: 1-66. * Lagache, Daniel. (1984). La sublimation et les valeurs. In Oeuvres completes 5. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. (Original work published 1962) * Laplanche, Jean. (1980). Problématiques III, la sublimation. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. * Mellor-Picaut, Sophie. (1979). La sublimation ruse de la civilisation. Psychanalyseà l'Université, 4. Further Reading  * Arlow, Jacob, rep. (1955). Panel: Sublimation. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 3, 515-527. * Kris, Ernst. (1955). Neutralization and sublimation. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 10, 30-46. * Loewald, Hans W. (1988). Sublimation: Inquiries into theoretical psychoanalysis. New Haven: Yale University Press.     ==new== The term '[[sublimation]]' (Fr. ''sublimation'') is one of the most familiar terms in the vocabulary of [[psychoanalysis]]. ==Sublimation and Freud==[[Sigmund Freud]] never developed a coherent theory (or account) of [[sublimation]]. [[Sublimation]] is a term widely used in [[psychoanalytic theory]] to describe the [[process]] in which the [[libido]] [[sexuality|sexual]] [[drive]] (psychic or erotic energy) is channelled, converted, transformed into an apparently non-sexual activity, such as [[art|artistic creation]] and intellectual work, or redirected, diverted toward an apparently non-sexual aim or a socially valued [[object]], such as [[art|artistic creation]] and intellectual work, into creative and intellectual activity, into "socially useful" achievements.<ref>Freud 1933</ref> [[Sublimation]] is a type of [[coping|coping mechanism]] or [[defense mechanism]], which functions as a socially acceptable escape valve for excess sexual or erotic energy which would otherwise have to Several reasons can be discharged in socially unacceptable forms (perverse behaviour) or in neurotic symptoms. Erotic energy is only allowed limited expression due to [[Psychological repression|repression]]. The logical conclusion of such a view is that complete sublimation would mean the end of all perversion and all neurosis. [[Civilization]] has been able adduced to place "social aims higher than the sexual ones."<ref>Introductory Lectures 16.345</ref> ===Sublimation and Art===This usage appears to be influenced by the aesthetics of the sublime.In his study of Leonardo da Vinci, Freud uses 'sublimation' in explain this sense to describe the transformation of theyoung Leonardo's sexual curiosity into a spirit of intellectual inquiry.<ref>1910a</ref>Whilst this produced great works of art# Firstly, the sublimation of [[libido]] into a general urge to know meant that a small quota of Leonardo's sexual ennergy was directe dtowards sexual aims, and resulted in a stunted adult sexuality.Elsewhere Frud suggests tht a mature woman's capacity to pursue an intellectual profession may be a sublimated expression of her childhood desire to acquire a penis. ==Sublimation and Lacan==Lacan's account of sublimation differs from Freud's on a number of points. # Freud argues that [[sublimation]] is only necessary because this direct [[satisfaction]] concept of the [[death drive]] (although theoretically possible) is [[prohibition|prohibited]] by [[society]]. # Freud's account implies that [[perversion|perverse]] [[sexuality]] itself seen as a form of direct [[satisfaction]] of the [[drive]] is possible, and that [[sublimation]] is only necessary because this direct form is [[prohibition|prohibited]] by [[society]]. Lacan conceives product of [[perversion]] in a highly structured relation to the [[drive]]s which are already, in themselves, [[linguistic]] rather than [[biology|biological forces]].<ref>see Zizek, 1991: 83-4)</ref> # Whereas Freud believed that complete [[sublimation]] might be possible for some particularly refined or [[culture]]d people, Lacan argues that "complete sublimation is not possible for the individual."<ref>S7, 91</ref>This is not to say that the "free mobility of the libido" (Introductory Lectures 16.346) is ever fully contained: "sublimation is never able to deal with more than a certain fraction of libido."<ref>Introductory Lectures 16.346</ref> # In Freud's account, own [[sublimation]] involves the redirection of the [[drive]] to a different (non-sexual) [[object]]. In Lacan's account, [[sublimation]] does not involve directing the drive to a different object, but rather changing the (position of the object in the structure of fantasy) nature of the object to which the drive was already directed, a "change of object in itself," something which is made possible because the drive is "already deeply marked by the articulation of the signifier."<ref>{{S7, 293</ref>The [[sublime]] quality of an [[object]] is thus not due to any intrinsic property of the object itself, but simply an effect of the object's position in the [[symbolic]] [[structure]] of [[fantasy]]}} p. Sublimation relocates an object in the position of the [[thing]]. The Lacanian formula for sublimation is thus that "it raises an object ... to the [[dignity of the Thing]]."<ref>S7, l 12212</ref> # Lacan (following Freud) associates [[sublimation]] with [[creativity]] and [[art]]Secondly, but also links it with the [[death drive]].<ref>S4, 431</ref>## Firstly, the concept of the [[death drive]] is itself seen as not only a product of Freud's own "[[sublimationdestruction]].<ref>S7, 212</ref>## Secondly, the death drive is not only a "destruction drive," but also "a "will to create crate from zero."<ref>{{S7, }} p.212-133</ref> ## Thirdly, the [[sublime object]], through [[being ]] elevated to the [[dignity of the [[Thing]], exerts a [[power ]] of [[fascination ]] which leads ultimately to [[death]] and destruction. ==Sublimation and Ethics==In his 1959-60 [[seminar]], ''[[The Ethics of Psychoanalysis]],'' [[Jacques Lacan]] emphasizes the element of [[social recognition]] as central to the concept, and reflects upon the dimension of shared social values (towards which the sublimated drives are diverted) in his discussion of ethics.<ref>[[Jacques Lacan|Lacan, Jacques]]. [[The Ethics of Psychoanalysis]]. p. 107, 144</ref>  <ref>[[Seminar XI]] sublimation, 11, 165</ref>

* [[libidoDeath drive]]||* [[Drive]]* [[driveEthics]]||* [[Fantasy]]* [[Libido]]||* [[death driveStructure]]* [[The Ethics of PsychoanalysisThing]]{{Also}}

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