Language and Psychoanalysis Volume 8 Issue 2 (2019) (original) (raw)
Related papers
Emblematic Mechanisms and Psychoanalysis
Language and Psychoanalysis, 2019
In the paper the parallels between the emblematic “mechanisms” of signification and the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud as well as Carl Gustav Jung have been studied. The Austrian psychiatrist has discovered template schemes that become a visual delineation, the blueprint for developing his scientific vocabulary, methodology, classification of psycho-emotional behavioral types in mythological plots. The Eros and Thanatos images handling, the exploitation of mythical tales about Oedipus and Electra, Prometheus, Narcissus, and many other ones to specify the behavioral complexes denote the presence of “emblematic methodology” in the formation of psychoanalytic conceptions and categories. His interpretations of famous mythological plots are boiled down to emblematic reduction. Carl Gustav Jung frequently selected symbolic notations as his research targets, which were a denotative space for expressing internal mental receptions and historic constellations of cultural axiology. In ...
Semiotics in Psychiatry and Psychology
Bloomsbury Semiotics Vol.2, 2022
The international congress on 'The Symbolic Construction of Reality' in Tokyo (2016) came up with the following statement: The concept of 'symbol' is without doubt in the core of the theoretical framework of the human sciences. Its relevance is beyond question and a great variety of differing notions of the symbol were developed by social behaviorists, pragmatists, cultural anthropologists, psychoanalysts, literary theorists, philosophers of life, semioticians and many more. In order to highlight the significance of symbols for the constitution of human life, (the philosopher) Ernst Cassirer defined the human being as 'animal symbolicum' (Cassirer 1944), because he considered the concept of rationality as inadequate to describe human cultural forms and realities. Yet, it remains unclear how these theoretical positions are connected to each other and to what extent they can be combined with each other. Furthermore, a concise and systematic theoretical examination of the concept of symbol is rather underrepresented.
The Psychological Approach: Freud
Having discussed two of the basic approaches to literary understanding, the traditional and the formalistic, we now examine a third interpretive perspective, the psychological. Of all the critical approaches to literature, this has been one of the most controversial, the most abused, and-for many readers-the least appreciated. Yet, for all the difficulties involved in its proper application to interpretive analysis, the psychological approach can be fascinating and rewarding. Our purpose in this chapter is threefold: (1) to account briefly for the misunderstanding of psychological criticism; (2) to outline the psychological theory most commonly used as an interpretive tool by modern critics; and (3) to show by examples how readers may apply this mode of interpretation to enhance their understanding and appreciation of literature.
How iconicity contributes to an understanding of the Freudian Sachvorstellung (Thing-Presentation)
Comparisons between Freudian and Peircean terms can produce fruitful insights. The confrontation of the two authors' worlds allows the terms of one author to shed light on the terms of the other, as in the case of the Freudian Sachvorstellung and Peircean iconicity, and vice versa. I will start with a presentation of Freud's first mention of this (possible) division of ideas into Thing-Presentations on the one hand and Word-Presentations on the other in his early paper "On Aphasia" (Freud 1891). Looking for similarities between the two authors leads me then to the term of iconicity and to Firstness within the Peircean realm. I will present the idea of abduction and exemplify it with the process of perception, following which I will characterize the categories of Secondness and Thirdness within the functioning of the psyche. In conclusion, I would like to give an overview of the meaning of iconicity and Firstness for psychic health and the analytic process.
Language and Psychoanalysis Volume 7 Issue 2 (2018)
Language and Psychoanalysis, 2018
Following detailed presentation of the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT), there is the objective of relevant methods for what has been described as verbalization and visualization of data. Such is also termed data mining and text mining, and knowledge discovery in data. The Correspondence Analysis methodology, also termed Geometric Data Analysis, is shown in a case study to be comprehensive and revealing. Quite innovative here is how the analysis process is structured. For both illustrative and revealing aspects of the case study here, relatively extensive dream reports are used. The dream reports are from an open source repository of dream reports, and the current study proposes a possible framework for the analysis of dream report narratives, and further, how such an analysis could be relevant within the psychotherapeutic context. This Geometric Data Analysis here confirms the validity of CCRT method.
The Language of Psychotherapy: Metaphor, Ambiguity, Wholeness
British Journal of Psychotherapy, 1985
Psychoanalysis is approached from the perspective of linguistics. It is argued .hat analysis is concerned with a type of communication different in nature and logic from that of the natural sciences. The characteristics of analytic language are illustrated by comparing poetry and psychoanalysis. Transference is discussed as a special type of metaphor; ambiguity is seen as an intrinsic aspect of aesthetic language; wholeness is held to be a goal of both therapy and the arts. The relevance of this view to recent findings in neurophysiology and ethology is discussed.
2016
█ Abstract According to Tim Crane, his version of psychologism is not based on the familiar opposition between conceptual analysis and empirical science. His point is not simply to consider phenomenological and empirical data in the science of the mind. Challenging the idea that investigation of the mind has to be understood "as an autonomous investigation solely into the concepts embodied in our psychological discourse", Crane tries to argue for a more realistic picture of the mental. His rejection of "autonomous investigation", however, is based in the end on its impermeability to empirical evidence and on the consequent reduction of philosophy of mind to conceptual analysis of ordinary intentional vocabulary. This seems clear as far as conceptual analysis goes, but perhaps has some undesired consequences in terms of common sense vocabulary. In fact, with respect to folk psychological discourse about the mind, all that Crane is saying is that-besides conceptual...
Ernst Cassirer’s Philosophy of Symbolic Forms and its impact on the theory of psychopathology
2014
Abstract The philosopher Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945) wrote in 1929: ‘For what it [the philosophy of symbolic forms] is seeking is not so much common factors in being as common factors in meaning. Hence we must strive to bring the teachings of pathology, which cannot be ignored, into the more universal context of the philosophy of culture’ (Cassirer, 1955: 275). This statement summarizes his approach in shifting the focus on psychopathological theory from the brain and its localizations to the living interaction between the self and his/her social environment. The present article looks at the impact of symbol theory on psychopathology – pre- and post-Cassirer’s main oeuvre Philosophie der symbolischen Formen – and whether his concept still has a role to play in an ontology of psychopathology. Keywords Concept of mental illness, Ernst Cassirer, philosopy, psychopathology, symbolic form
Carl Jung's approach to symbolism: with special reference to visual art
Humanities and social sciences, 2015
The concept of symbolism from the perspective of a psychologist Carl Jung gives a new insight and dimension on symbolism apart from other disciplines. Jung believes that man produce symbols consciously as well as unconsciously in a form of dreams which are a great aspect of psychological importance. He stresses on how the psychic content of a symbol can be of vital importance for a man and his life. A symbol plays an integral part in the life of many cultures and there is a re-creative meaning in these symbols. The symbolic ideas take place within the unconscious mind of a modern man as it takes place in the rituals of ancient societies. Jungian analysis is based on the unconscious of human mind and shows how a symbolic interpretation can become a method for analysis of an individual‟s mental functioning and social behavior. Jungian perspective towards the interpretation of visual art presents fascinating insights concerning Jung's understanding of the universal Transcendent Fun...