THE HISTORICAL SPECULATIONS IN PSYCHOANALYSIS: MYSTIFICATION OR GRAMMATICAL CLARIFICATION? Cover Image

LES SPECULATIONS HISTORIQUES EN PSYCHANALYSE : MYSTIFICATION OU CLARIFICATION GRAMMATICALE?
THE HISTORICAL SPECULATIONS IN PSYCHOANALYSIS: MYSTIFICATION OR GRAMMATICAL CLARIFICATION?

Author(s): Vincent Grondin
Subject(s): Philosophy
Published by: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai
Keywords: Wittgenstein; Freud; History; Unconscious; Narrative; Grammar.

Summary/Abstract: The main goal of this paper is to criticize Wittgenstein’s reading of Freudian psychoanalysis. According to Wittgenstein, the very notion of “unconscious” can only make sense considered from a grammatical standpoint. The unconscious is not an empirical feature of our mind but a kind of language game.  On the basis of a thorough study of Freud's book on Moses, this paper argues that psychoanalysis relies on a legitimate alternative to Wittgenstein's conception of mind and culture. For psychoanalysis, mind and culture would need to be understood as essentially diachronic, rather than as language games.

  • Issue Year: 55/2010
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 175-194
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: French