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Lacan's view of sublimation

Lacan's view of sublimation John Muller In his New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1933), Freud defines sublimation as follows: "A certain kind of modification of the aim and change of the object, in which our social valuation is taken into account, is described by us as 'sublimation'" (p. 97). In "The Ethics of Psychoanalysis" (1959-60), Lacan defines sublimation as the process that "elevates an object to the dignity of the Thing" (Vol. I, p. 149). 1 "The thing" is '% chose" in French and "das Ding" in German. The term has a long philosophical history from Aristotle to Heidegger 2 and is the term highlighted in Kant's "das Ding an sich,""the thing in itself," which lies beyond phenomenal appearances and is unknowable in itself. Now all of this would remain merely an academic exercise except that Lacan is struck by Freud's use of the term in describing the origin of object relations; and also that according to Lap[anche and Pon- tails (1967, p. 433), "the lack of a coherent theory of sublimation remains one of the lacunae in psycho-analytic thought." Freud writes of das Ding in his essay "Negation" in a very specific man- ner. In the fifth paragraph he elaborates that function http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The American Journal of Psychoanalysis Springer Journals

Lacan's view of sublimation

Muller, John
The American Journal of Psychoanalysis , Volume 47 (4): 9 – Dec 1, 1987
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References (7)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
1987 Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis
ISSN
0002-9548
eISSN
1573-6741
DOI
10.1007/BF01255224
Publisher site
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Abstract

John Muller In his New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1933), Freud defines sublimation as follows: "A certain kind of modification of the aim and change of the object, in which our social valuation is taken into account, is described by us as 'sublimation'" (p. 97). In "The Ethics of Psychoanalysis" (1959-60), Lacan defines sublimation as the process that "elevates an object to the dignity of the Thing" (Vol. I, p. 149). 1 "The thing" is '% chose" in French and "das Ding" in German. The term has a long philosophical history from Aristotle to Heidegger 2 and is the term highlighted in Kant's "das Ding an sich,""the thing in itself," which lies beyond phenomenal appearances and is unknowable in itself. Now all of this would remain merely an academic exercise except that Lacan is struck by Freud's use of the term in describing the origin of object relations; and also that according to Lap[anche and Pon- tails (1967, p. 433), "the lack of a coherent theory of sublimation remains one of the lacunae in psycho-analytic thought." Freud writes of das Ding in his essay "Negation" in a very specific man- ner. In the fifth paragraph he elaborates that function

Journal

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis – Springer Journals

Published: Dec 1, 1987

Keywords: Clinical Psychology; Psychotherapy; Psychoanalysis

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