Death Drive and Critical Theory
Abstract
Much has been said about death drive in Critical Theory. This concept was mainly read as an aggressive and/or destructive drive. As a consequence, there are two ways of finding death drive in critical theories: the classic mode represented by Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, and, more recently, Whitebook, in which death drive is seen as a factor that gives psychoanalysis its negativity face; or a way that leads to the despise of the nuclear function of death drive in psychoanalytic theory in name of normativity, as it happens in Fromm and Honneth. What I propose here is, from a comparison of both Freud’s texts, “Remembering, Repeating, and Working Through” (1914) and “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” (1920), to present a new way of appropriating the concept of death drive to produce a current critical theory. This means not considering the Wiederholungszwang as simply an imperative for coercion, but also a repetition compulsion. By proposing this reading of death drive (as suggested by Freud in 1920), I believe it is possible to amplify the range of possible connections between psychoanalysis and Critical Theory, keeping the negativity side, but without losing its normativity.
Downloads
Riferimenti bibliografici
Allen, A. (2020). Critique on the Couch: Why Critical Theory Needs Psychoanalysis. New York: Columbia University Press.
Benjamin, J. (1988). The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and the Problem of Domination. New York: Pantheon.
Butler, J. (2020). The Force of Non-Violence. Londres: Verso.
Fong, B. Y. (2016). Death and Mastery: Psychoanalytic drive theory and the subject of late capitalism. New York: Columbia University Press.
Freud, S. (1999a). Erinnern, Wiederholen und Durcharbeiten. In Freud, Sigmund. Gesammelte Werke: Werke aus den Jahren 1913-1917. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag.
Freud, S. (1999b). Jenseits des Lustprinzips. In S. Freud. Gesammelte Werke: Jenseits des Lustprinzips/Massenpsychologie und Ich-Analyse/Das Ich und das Es. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag.
Fromm, E. (1971). The Crisis of Psychoanalysis. Greenwich (Conn): Fawcett.
Habermas, J. (1988). Individualisierung durch Vergesellschaftung. In J. Habermas, Nachmetaphysiches Denken. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Habermas, J. (2011). Conhecimento e interesse. São Paulo: Unesp.
Hinshelwood, R. D. (1992). Dicionario do pensamento Kleiniano. Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas.
Honneth, A. (2009). Luta por reconhecimento: a gramática moral dos conflitos sociais. 2. ed. São Paulo: Editora 34.
Horkheimer, M. (1980). Teoria tradicional e teoria crítica. In W. Benjamin, M. Horkheimer, Th. W. Adorno, J. Habermas, Textos escolhidos. São Paulo: Abril Cultural: 117-161. Trans. by José Lino Grünnewald [et. al.].
Kristeva, J. (2004). Melanie Klein. New York: Columbia University Press.
Marin, I. L. (2022). Narcisismo e reconhecimento: os rumos da psicanálise na teoria crítica. São Paulo: Editora Unifesp.
Mcafee, N. (2019). Fear from Breakdown: Politics and Psychoanalysis. New York: Columbia University Press.
Nobre, M. (2004). A Teoria Crítica. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar Editor.
Whitebook, J. (1996). Perversion and Utopia: A Study in Psychoanalysis and Critical Theory. Cambridge: Mass. MIT Press.
Gli Autori che pubblicano su questa rivista accettano le seguenti condizioni:
a. Gli Autori mantengono i diritti sulla loro opera e cedono alla Rivista il diritto di prima pubblicazione dell'opera, contemporaneamente licenziata sotto una Licenza Creative Commons - Attribuzione che permette ad altri di condividere l'opera indicando la paternità intellettuale e la prima pubblicazione su questa Rivista.
b. Gli Autori possono aderire ad altri accordi di licenza non esclusiva per la distribuzione della versione dell'opera pubblicata (es. depositarla in un archivio istituzionale o pubblicarla in una monografia), a patto di indicare che la prima pubblicazione è avvenuta su questa Rivista.
c. Gli Autori possono diffondere la loro opera online (es. in repository istituzionali o nel loro sito web) prima e durante il processo di submission, poichè può portare a scambi produttivi e aumentare le citazioni dell'opera pubblicata (Vedi The Effect of Open Access).
