Brief 139 aan Wilhem Fliess
The Origins of Freud’s Theory of the Unconscious: A Philosophical Link
The recent publication of Freud’s correspondence to his school friend, Edward Silberstein, has provided new impetus for research into Freud’s relationship with the philosopher Franz Brentano. In this paper I will address one possible objection to any claim that the philosopher could have influenced Freud on a theoretical level. It may be argued that there could be no significant theoretical influence because the psychoanalyst constructed a model of mental functioning which presupposes an unconscious, while Brentano was a philosopher of consciousness, who denied the very existence of unconscious ideas. I will demonstrate that, despite his rejection of unconscious mental functioning, Brentano presents a systematic investigation into what he perceives to be the strongest arguments in favour of the existence of unconscious ideas. Although he finds each account to be flawed, Brentano frequently offers a possible corrective, suggesting certain conditions as principles which must be observed by anyone hoping to formulate a reasonable thesis to support the existence of unconscious ideas. I argue that it is this analysis which helped Freud to formulate a coherent account of the unconscious which does not fall prey to the objections Brentano levelled against preceding conceptions of unconscious mental processes.
Lacan’s Doctoral Thesis: Tturbulent Preface or Founding Legend?
This paper presents a close reading of Lacan’s doctoral thesis with a view to disentangling the reality of Lacan’s thought in 1932 from the glosses of retrospection imposed on it by its republication in 1975. At this time Lacan was at the height of his fame as the most innovative psychoanalyst of the twentieth century and the complexities and rough edges of this work were smoothed by many commentators to create the impression of a simple developmental curve. It is hoped that this close reading will allow the reader to assess both Lacan’s neophyte status at the time and the early indications of what were to become lifelong preoccupations in his later psychoanalytic work.
Who’s the Author of Freud’s Works? A Confutation of “A Critique of Freud’s Pre-analytic and Psychoanalytic Dream-theory” by Adolf Grünbaum
This work shows how Grunbaum’s critique, “Manifest Dream-Content a Compromise-Formation with Repressed Wishes. A critique of Freud’s pre-analytic and psychanalytic dream-theory” is wholly inconsistent.
First, it shows that Freud’s theory of dreams as wishfulfillment was not based on the neurophysiological model of the “Project for a Scientific Psychology”, as Grunbaum suggested.. Further, his reading of this text rests on four very serious conceptual confusions: 1) confusion between sleep and dream; 2) confusion between structure and function; 3) confusion between real and rational; 4) confusion between primary process and irrationality. Finally, it is demonstrated that, even in relation to psychoanalytic dream-theory, Grünbaum confuses the Ego’s different notions in the development of Freud’s theory and radically misunderstands what Freud says about the “wish to sleep”. For all these reasons it is believed that Grünbaum’s work has absolutely no epistemological value for a critical analysis of Freud’s true theories.