Subject and Agency in PsychoanalysisSubject and Agency in Psychoanalysis
Drawing on contemporary theory development, Moran addresses this central issue in an attempt to propose a solution to the central problem of subject and agency. She illustrates how the abstract subjects of two other pioneering psychoanalysts, Melanie Klein and Heinz Hartmann, are equally adrift from the subject who speaks in analysis. While Jacques Lacan's subject provides more focus on this issue, this same problem recurs in his use of logically contradictory assumptions concerning the location of agency.
Distinctive not only for its exposure of a pivotal weakness in psychoanalytic theory construction, the volume also provides a constructive prescription for a possible solution, through a reconceptualization of Anthony Giddens's theory of structuration within the psychoanalytic framework. As such, Subject and Agency In Psychoanalysis makes a significant contribution to narrowing the gap between theory and practice.
Moran explores how Freud employed two frameworks simultaneously in his theory construction one clinical and one theoretical and how this dualism resulted in the combination of logically incompatible assumptions regarding the location of agency. Drawing on contemporary theory development, Moran addresses this central issue in an attempt to propose a solution to the central problem of subject and agency. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Psychoanalysis works with words, words spoken by a subject who asks that the analyst listen. This is the belief that underlies Francis Moran's rewarding exploration of a central problem in psychoanalytic theorynamely, the separation of the concepts of subject and agency.
Subject and Agency in Psychoanalysis contends that Freud simultaneously employs two frameworks for explaining agency-- one clinical and one theoretical. As a result, Freud's exploration of agency proceeds from two logically incompatible assumptions. The division between these assumptions is a part of Freud's psychoanalytic legacy.
Moran reads the Freudian inheritance in light of this division, showing how Klein and Hartmann's theoretical concepts of subject are adrift from the subject who speaks in analysis. Moran also shows that while Lacan's subject provides more focus on this issue, Lacan reverts to the Freudian division in his use of logically contradictory assumptions concerning the location of agency.
Drawing on contemporary theory development, from Lacanian innovations to the social theories of Anthony Giddens, Moran proposes a new and fertile approach to a fundamental problem, significantly narrowing the gap between psychoanalytic theory and practice.
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- New York : New York University Press, ©1993.
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