“…For instance, psychoanalyst Klein and phenomenologist Merleau‐Ponty share,a vision of the body as the locus of emergence of a process of meaning and significance, more original than linguistic and conventional symbolism, and based on a form of archaic identification to others, in which it is the other's body, the maternal breast for instance, that works as a primordial signifier of a set of living dimensions and meanings of which it is also an element. [Angelino :71]…”
Section: Phenomenology: Emotional Evaluation Of Desirementioning
Criticizing the tendency of modernist thought to assume a world of dichotomies does not explain the dichotomies as social facts with serious consequences for human life and relations. Based on a critical reading of psychoanalysis and phenomenology, this article elaborates a theory for such an explanation. It argues that dichotomizing, far from being universal to human experience or the result of specific historical circumstances, is powered most fundamentally by negating bodies, which repress an archaic desire in humans to connect with others and the world. The human body can also be socialized to affirm this desire, though negating and affirming bodies are not so much oppositional as they are implicated in each other's psychosomatic dispositions. The article enriches the anthropological study of human subjectivity and demonstrates the use of bringing psychoanalysis and phenomenology to bear on matters of importance to anthropology, related fields, and critical current events.
“…For instance, psychoanalyst Klein and phenomenologist Merleau‐Ponty share,a vision of the body as the locus of emergence of a process of meaning and significance, more original than linguistic and conventional symbolism, and based on a form of archaic identification to others, in which it is the other's body, the maternal breast for instance, that works as a primordial signifier of a set of living dimensions and meanings of which it is also an element. [Angelino :71]…”
Section: Phenomenology: Emotional Evaluation Of Desirementioning
Criticizing the tendency of modernist thought to assume a world of dichotomies does not explain the dichotomies as social facts with serious consequences for human life and relations. Based on a critical reading of psychoanalysis and phenomenology, this article elaborates a theory for such an explanation. It argues that dichotomizing, far from being universal to human experience or the result of specific historical circumstances, is powered most fundamentally by negating bodies, which repress an archaic desire in humans to connect with others and the world. The human body can also be socialized to affirm this desire, though negating and affirming bodies are not so much oppositional as they are implicated in each other's psychosomatic dispositions. The article enriches the anthropological study of human subjectivity and demonstrates the use of bringing psychoanalysis and phenomenology to bear on matters of importance to anthropology, related fields, and critical current events.
Melanie Klein's theories on love outline a complex system of relations-an oscillating dynamic of psychical and emotional tendencies following from both actual experience and fantasies produced by the mind. Her insights are often discussed and applied in psychoanalytical contexts, but the philosophical implications of her theory-especially in relation to Platonic thought-have rarely been discussed. In this article, I will attempt to address this gap by setting out some preliminary yet core considerations shared by both Plato and Klein. First, I will describe some structural parallels between Kleinian and Platonic thought, especially in dialectical terms. Second, I will outline Plato's covert influence on Freud as passing through the teachings of philosopher Franz Brentano. And last, I will discuss intimacy as a struggle between the forces of good and bad, creativity and destruction, and love and hate-suggesting that Klein's conception of love emerges as a moral exigency.
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