Freud: Classical to Modern (Cohort 1)
September 30, 2024 @ 8:00 pm - 9:15 pm, Classroom Three
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2-Year Certificate Program (2YCP), Cohort 1 (The Emotional Textures)
2024-25, 1st Term — Mondays, 8:00-9:15pm
James Basinski, MD
View Whole Syllabus
September 30, 2024
[27 pages]
Toward the end of his life, Freud elaborated his “metapsychology” to include forms of object (aka others) relating and his second “structural model”, which famously defined the id, ego, and super-ego. The first reading this week is a single chapter from Freud’s 1923 book The Ego and The Id in which he describes the relationship of the super ego to the ego and relates the formation of the super ego to the resolution/maturation of the oedipus complex. The second reading is a more modern paper that compares the (Greek) Oedipus myth to Chinese and Indian myths about mother-father-son relationships to demonstrate the developmental challenge of negotiating triangular relationships across cultures.
In the optional paper, Rosemary Balsam (after a lengthy introduction to Freud’s Oedipus and 20th century elaborations), proposes an alternate model for female development that retains the pillars of embodiment, infantile sexuality, and triangularity but includes the female subject’s ongoing (ambivalent) identification with her mother throughout life.
Seminar Objectives:
- Understand Freud’s second “structural model” including characteristics of and relationships between the Id, Ego, and Superego.
- Understand the significance of the Oedipus complex in Freud’s theorizing and its relevance for contemporary practice.
- Reflect on the presence of European cultural norms in Freud’s theorizing.
Freud, S. (1923) The Ego and the Id, III: The Ego and the Super-Ego (Ego Ideal), in The Freud Reader, pp637-645
Tang, N.M. & Smith, B.L. (1996) The Eternal Triangle across Cultures: Oedipus, Hsueh, and Ganesa. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 51:562-579
Optional Reading
Balsam, R.H. (2015). “Oedipus Rex: Where are We Going, Especially with Females?” Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 84(3):555-588.
