Theories of the Mind

 

week 3

the construction of the ego

One of the important characteristics of Lacanian analysis is in his view of ego-formation. Lacan says, and he says that Freud says (though this is disputed) that the function of psychoanalysis is not to strengthen the ego, which is often taken as the aim of classic Freudian analysis, but to expose it for what it is.

In seminar 2 we examined the social construction of the poem. In this seminar, we will look at the social construction of the self, and the way in which literature can be part of that process of ego-formation.

If all goes well, reference will be made to

Three quotations from Freud:

where id was, there shall ego be (wo es war, soll ich sein)

his majesty the ego, hero alike of every daydream and every fiction (from Freud's essay The creative writer and daydreaming).

the ego is not master in its own house

Althusser's theory of ideology and the ideological state apparatus. Summaries here and here (the best).

Further reading on Althusser and ideology is here.

John Donne's Devotions on emergent occasions

Wallace Stevens' poem The house was quiet and the world was calm

Incidentally, an extensive reading list on Lacan is now here.

 

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