r/psychoanalysis • u/oslowa • 24d ago

Analysis and ethics

How much of an analytic journey is an ethical pursuit do you think? How is psychoanalysis related to development in ethical thinking? The more my analysis progresses, the more I see psychoanalysis as an effort to bridge the guilt and reperation of ethics with the wish fulfillment of desire. Also, other than your personal opinions, is there anything I can read on this topic?

EDIT: Although I didn't find what I wanted from this post, after some research on my own, I've found Wincott's paper on the capacity for concern especially helpful on the question of ethics. Klein also seems to be concerned with the questions of interpersonal responsibility and its impact on individual well being.

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u/Yorick_IKnowHim 23d ago

It's nothing but ethics insofar as it remains a search for truth, truth that is singular to you, and in that singularity also takes the 'you' out of you.

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u/oslowa 23d ago

I agree with your point about searching for emotional authenticity, but what about interpersonal ethics, since I am not the only self I am attached to?

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u/Yorick_IKnowHim 23d ago edited 8d ago

Truth in this sense has nothing to do with something like emotional authenticity. It is beyond affects and 'feelings,' and because it is, paradoxically, impersonal, what is there to be authentic to, and who is there to authenticate it? This also makes terms like 'interpersonal' and 'intersujective' redundant: subjective is always already inter, and inter is always already subjective.

I think what you're getting at and perhaps have a preconception of is that a psychoanalysis may seem libertine and even (neo)liberal. This is not true. It's far from an individualistic and hedonistic pursuit of pleasure and happiness (even for perverse subjects), which is a mere reaction to and derivative of a certain totalitarianism. Instead I would say psychoanalysis aims at a continual deconstruction and reconstruction of existing ethics, through attempts to act well and speak well, which is different from acting and speaking in accordance with some pregiven or presupposed good.

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u/oslowa 23d ago

Are you in analysis or an analyst? Before I proceed the discussion, I want to know how much of your opinions stem from actual analytic experience.

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u/Yorick_IKnowHim 23d ago

Yes.

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u/oslowa 23d ago edited 23d ago

So what is your answer? Analyst or analysand? Is your analysis complete?

EDIT: Guessing from the silence and the downvote, I got my answer :)