The philosophical roots of psychoanalysis

The philosophical roots of psychoanalysis
Prof. Shai Frogel
 

The basic assumptions of psychoanalysis ere rooted in the development of the concept of the subject in modern philosophy. This development begins with Descartes' thought which places the individual thinker as the central axis of his thoughts and existence (Cogito ergo sum). David Hume doubts the metaphysical status of this ego by his empirical method and emphasizes the ever changing nature of our consciousness. Immanuel Kant's "Copernican revolution" shows that the objects that appear in our consciousness are also formed by the forms of our consciousness. The ego, according to this view, is not an independent entity (Descartes) but epistemological concept – Subject. Friedrich Nietzsche adopts Kant's revolution for rejecting the autonomy which Kant ascribes to the subject. He argues that the individual is subjected to unconscious elements which affect his conscious states of mind.
 

Freud formulates his theory on the basis of this development. The centrality of the concept of the ego in psychoanalysis takes us back to Descartes. The preference of empirical investigation over speculative thinking connects Freud to Hume. Kant's idea that our consciousness forms its objects is a basic assumption of Freud's dynamic view of psyche. And above all, Nietzsche idea of the unconsciousness is a constitutive element of the theory of psychoanalysis.
The course will follow these philosophical roots of psychoanalysis and will end with a reading of Freud's important article: "The ego and the id".
 

Topics
a. Introduction
b. René Descartes: Ego sum, ego existo
René Descartes, "The meditations concerning first philosophy"[1642] in Descartes: Philosophical essays, Translated by Laurence J. Lafleur, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1964.
Sections: First meditation ("concerning things that can be doubted"), Second meditation ("Of the nature of the human mind, and that it is more easily known than the body"), pp. 75-91
c. David Hume: Stream of consciousness
David Hume, A treatise concerning human nature, Oxford: Clarendon press, 1978 [1739-1740].
Section: "Of personal identity", pp. 251-263.
d. Immanuel Kant: The birth of the subject
Immanuel Kant, Critique of pure reason, Translated by Norman Kemp Smith, London: Macmillan, 1992 [1787]
Section: "Preface to second edition", pp. 17-37.
e. Friedrich Nietzsche: The body and the unconsciousness
Friedrich Nietzsche, The gay science, Translated by Walter Kaufmann, NY: Vintage, 1974 [1882].
Sections: "Consciousness" (section 11), pp. 84-85, "On the 'genius of the species'" (section 354), pp. 297-300.
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond good and evil, Translated by Walter Kaufmann, NY: Vintage books, 1989 [1886].
Sections: 16-19, pp. 23-27.
f. Sigmund Freud: Biology, culture and psychology
Sigmund Freud, "The ego and the id"[1923] in Sigmund Freud: Beyond the pleasure principle and other writings, Translated by John Reddick, London: Penguin books, 2003, pp. 103-149.
 

Attendance
Attendance is mandatory.
(3 absences are permitted)
 

Assessment
3 short papers (800 words) on three different topics.
Paper 1 – due date: 10/4/2017 (30%)
Paper 2 – due date: 21/5/2017 (30%)
Paper 3 – due date:TBA (40%)