Teaching

Francesca Guma

Prerequisites

None.

Module outcomes

Free will is an ancient concept which is deeply rooted in our thinking. It is fundamental to the construction of the image we have of ourselves as agents able to deliberate on our actions. However, although the experience of freedom is actually present, is it a veridical or an illusory experience?

This conundrum has affected areas such as philosophy, theology, morality and law for centuries, without reaching shared results. Such a riddle should certainly be of greater interest to psychology, a discipline that, more than others, focuses on dynamics linked, for example, to people’s capacity for choice, self-control and self-awareness.

Within the framework of ancient and recent debates on free will, Freud’s conception has mostly been considered a position of denial of freedom: by naturalizing psychic events, he supposedly placed the subjects in a deterministic horizon, binding them inextricably to laws of nature. In line with many of the current positions that consider necessary to adopt a reductionist approach to human behaviour, it has sometimes been taken for granted that a scientific view of free will should be of a neuroscientific kind. However, although there are phenomena which arise from physical events, they cannot be described solely in physical terms.

Beginning with the analysis of the concept of freedom, the course will address some of the major issues related to free will, and then focus on Freud’s proposal. Leaving behind radical materialism, which tends to relate all aspects of the human mind to the brain, Freud’s theory shows that it is possible to be free within a deterministic framework, provided that ways to increase one’s own free will are found.

Concise Programme

  • Theories of freedom (social freedom and free will; negative freedom and positive freedom)
  • Free will (requirements of freedom; freedom, will and choice)
  • Determinism and free will (genetic and cerebral determinism; incompatibilism and compatibilism)
  • Freud’s psychic determinism
  • Psychoanalysis as a possible way of increasing free will
  • The contribution of psychoanalysis to the contemporary debate on free will

Expected learning outcomes (E.L.O.)

At the end of this course, students should have acquired the knowledge necessary to find their way into some of the main issues of the contemporary debate on free will. They will have built up the basis for understanding and critiquing the main theoretical approaches developed in philosophy with regard to freedom, and gained the ability to understand Freud’s proposal. Moreover, they will be aware of the relevance and originality of Freud’s theory, which can provide a naturalistic, explanatory, scientifically respectable, non-reductionist conception of free will that respects human dignity.

Teaching method

The course consists of six lectures on a fortnightly basis.

Learning evaluation

The evaluation aims to assess students’ understanding of the topics covered in the course and will take into account the written paper to be submitted after the end of the course.

Bibliography

Freud’s works:

  • Freud S. (1901), Psicopatologia della vita quotidiana, in OSF vol. IV, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1909), Cinque conferenze sulla psicoanalisi, in OSF vol. VI, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1911), Precisazioni sui due princípi dell’accadere psichico, in OSF vol. VI, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1911-12), Tecnica della psicoanalisi, in OSF vol. VI, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1914), Ricordare, ripetere e rielaborare, in OSF vol. VII, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1915), Pulsioni e loro destini, in OSF vol. VIII, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1915), L’inconscio, in OSF vol. VIII, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1915-17), Introduzione alla psicoanalisi, in OSF vol. VIII, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1916), Una difficoltà della psicoanalisi, in OSF vol. VIII, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1918), Vie della terapia psicoanalitica, in OSF vol. IX, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1920), Preistoria della tecnica analitica, in OSF vol. IX, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1920), Al di là del principio di piacere, in OSF vol. IX, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1921), Psicoanalisi e telepatia, in OSF vol. IX, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1922), Due voci di enciclopedia: “psicoanalisi” e “teoria della libido”, in OSF vol. IX, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1922), L’Io e l’Es, in OSF vol. IX, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1925), Inibizione, sintono e angoscia, in OSF vol. X, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1932), Introduzione alla psicoanalisi (nuova serie di lezioni), in OSF vol. XI, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1937), Analisi terminabile e interminabile, in OSF vol. XI, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.
  • Freud S. (1938), Compendio di psicoanalisi, in OSF vol. XI, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino.

Other works:

  • Dalto, S. (2021). Verità e pragmatica della verità. Metapsychologica – Rivista di psicanalisi freudiana, 2021/1, pp. xx-yy.
  • Guma, F. (2021). Determinato ma possibilmente libero. La libertà del volere nella teoria psicanalitica. Metapsychologica – Rivista di psicanalisi freudiana, 2021/1, pp. xx-yy.
  • List, C. (2020). Il libero arbitrio. Una realtà contestata (V. Santarcangelo, Trad.). Einaudi. (Originariamente pubblicato nel 2019)