Seminar 2023/24: Freud is not what they say he is

The 2023/2024 seminar of the School of Freudian Psychoanalysis, divided into a course of 16 lectures on a fortnightly basis, aims to show not only the great incompatibility between the original Freudian thought and that of contemporary authors, but also and above all those great misunderstandings on the part of those authors who should have been the guarantors of the continuity of psychoanalytic theory. The seminar, which will take place mainly in the form of face-to-face lectures, intends firstly to shed light on the rigorous epistemological and methodological approach of Freudian psychoanalysis; secondly, to show how the authors, who have dealt with it since Freud’s death, have developed the theory predominantly by juxtaposing often incompatible constructs, using terms incorrectly and corroborating the discipline’s claims to scientificity on clinical efficacy alone without taking into consideration the problem of placebo, i.e. suggestion, which for Freud has always been central.

-What are the major misunderstandings regarding the history and development of psychoanalysis

-Historical considerations regarding the development of psychoanalytic theory and practice

-Differences between the theory of Jacques Lacan and that of Sigmund Freud

-Critical review of contemporary psychoanalytic texts

-Biography of Sigmund Freud

-The importance of sexual theory and its misunderstanding

-Psychoanalytic epistemology

-Differences between technique and method in psychoanalysis

-Anguish and its relation to meaning

The seminar consists of a course of 16 lectures every two weeks.

Students should be able to:

• Know the main historical and conceptual problems of Freudian and post-Freudian psychoanalysis (level 1 and 2)
• Master the fundamentals of psychoanalytic epistemology (level 1 and 2)
• Know the central developments in Freudian theory (level 1 and 2)
• Recognise the incompatibility between Freud’s theory and those of post-Freudian authors (level 2)

During the course, students are asked to write a paper, to be handed in at the end of the lectures, in which they demonstrate that they have mastered the content of the seminar, which the Teaching Commission will assess.

Bibliographic references will be given during the seminar.