Veterans and Brain Disease
(2012)
This article offers a sympathetic appraisal of Erich Fromm’s concept of narcissism as it relates to the emergence, sustenance, and resolution of authoritarian violence. The discussion is first placed within the methodological debate over the analytic operations that are required for an adequate understanding of authoritarian violence, explaining why a psychoanalytic perspective is necessary. The focus then shifts to Fromm’s take on the Freudian concept of narcissism, before proceeding to explore in some depth his account of the symbolic mechanisms and contextual climate that must combine in practice in order for narcissistic energies to be channeled into authoritarianism and violence. Attention in this regard is paid both to the populace and governing elites. The article concludes with a short exposition of Fromm’s notion of benign narcissism, from its specific content to the conditions of its possibility.
Psychoanalysis today is increasingly turning its sights on narcissistic and borderline states, in which archaic forms of defense predominate and accordingly burden the analytic setting. Mental function suffers, and psychic pain cannot be experienced as a mental emotional experience. As a result, the whole situation tends towards the direction of enactment. In such cases, interpretations are not enough, at least on a primary level. Instead, there should be a possibly lengthy period of containment of this archaic nonverbal communication within the psychic space of the analyst in order give it meaning and subsequently remit it into the potential space between the analyst and the analysand in the analytic setting. It has been increasingly accepted by the psychoanalytic community that the analyst's response towards the analysand's transference is likely to contain elements that come from the analyst's own mental and affective processes. Such a holistic view of countertransference is open to acknowledging, and even embracing, the subjectivity of the analyst in the analytic process. The analyst's affective reaction toward and involvement with his patients, which is absent from the classic description of countertransference, turns the latter concept into a valuable and reliable tool for understanding severe pathology within an intersubjective frame of interaction. This paper presents the clinical case of a middle-aged man with narcissistic disorder and an incapacity to mourn. It describes the course of the interaction within the analytic pair that, in a setting of intersubjectivity, worked toward reconstructing the patient's sense of loss and absence.
Women behind the couch
(2012)
Work and perversion
(2012)
Recent theories and practices in human resources management indicate the possibility of the complete control of man over his environment as well as himself. Analysis of this new concept from a psychoanalytical viewpoint shows a close relationship between control strategies that are part of some management practices and perversion, generating research elements for managers and other professionals in the mental health field.
Zur Finanzierung eines finanzielle Armut verbannenden Bedingungslosen Grundeinkommens in der Schweiz
(2012)
Человек не является подобием машины, которая обладает набором разных свойств и характеристик. В бытии человека обнаруживаются экзистенциальные противоречия. Ведь он рождается в природе, а живет в обществе. Человек имеет инстинкты, но располагает и сознанием. Он животное и неживотное. Потомок Адама – природное создание, но он имеет и божественную природу. Человек, по определению Э. Фромма, едва ли не самое эксцентричное создание универсума.
Идеи Эриха Фромма о педагогическои антропологии [Erich Fromm’s Ideas on Educational Anthropology]
(2012)
В своем творчестве Фромм придавал большое значение проблемам педагогической антропологии. Он поставил перед философией задачу формирования нового Человека, построившего общество, основанное на принципах гуманизма и свободы. Поставленную задачу может выполнить гуманная педагогика, которая способна гуманизировать индивидуальный, внутренний мир человека, его представления о добре и зле, расширить его идеалы, сделать его более совершенным и самодостаточным во благо себя и других людей.
Сажетак. Интерпретација тумачења људског карактера Ериха Фрома. Анализа индивидуалног и друштвеног карактера, као и односа религије и карактера, симбиотичког одношења, повучености-деструктивности и љубави као односа социјализације. Истицање важности продуктивне и непродуктивне оријентације у односима асимилације. Осврт на типове непродуктивног карактера: прималачки, израбљивачки, згрталачки и тржишни карактер, као и ауторитарно садомазохистички и револуционарни карактер. Разматрање величине и значаја Фромове мисли са социолошког становишта: друштвени карактер за Фрома има етички и хеуристички значај. Људске страсти су укорењене у карактеру и представљају начин да се да смисао постојању, да се одговори на људску егзистенцијалну ситуацију. За Фрома, најважнији циљ друштава би требало да буде потпуни развитак човека.
Одно из глубинных потребностей человека, отмеченное Фроммом, – это стремление к уподоблению, поиск объекта поклонения. Индивид, заброшенный в мир таинственных вещей и явлений, просто не в состоянии самостоятельно осознать назначение и смысл окружающего бытия. Он нуждается в системе ориентации, которая дала бы ему возможность отождествлять себя с неким признанным образцом.
Carlos Jimenez’s >House and Studio< was self-designed to fully function as both a home and workplace. Since its establishment in 1983, the installation has been continuously updated for almost 30 years solely under the guidance of the owner’s life occurrences and routine needs. The additions and alterations succeeding the building’s erection were executed to incorporate small yet symbolic fragments of the resident’s memories and life episodes. The particularity of the >House and Studio< can be compared with other residential remodeling and expansion projects in regards to certain key aspects. These means of comparison include, but are not limited to, building strictly under the direction of a master plan of development vs. allowing natural adaptations that comply with the resident’s needs, rapid development vs. gradual advancement, the ornamenting by exposing showy features vs. the enhancing by addition of modest natural components, sustainability vs. sustenance, systematic room divisions vs. ambiguous spatial organization, possession as a materialized asset vs. preservation as a recollection of memories, and finally the recognition as one example of signature architecture vs. the witnessing of a maturing animated shelter. The given propositions can be further explained with the comprehension of Erich Fromm’s theory of the >Having< mode and >Being< mode, two mechanisms that categorize the essence of human life. The >Having< mode is described by the human greed for wealth, power, and influence, whereas the >Being< mode is comprised of compassion, joy, and productivity. Fromm’s thesis applies to the general sense of human life, but the ideas can be narrowed to accommodate the architectural standpoint. In architecture, the >Having< mode can be translated to be the conspicuous form-oriented and self-contained object. The ‘Being’ mode, on the other hand, is transposed as the more natural form, incorporating the needs of the owner before commercialization. The growth of Jimenez’s >House and Studio< can be perceived as an architectural suggestion to the overcoming of human indifference caused by fixation on the >Having< mode.