What psychiatry was for the anti-psychiatry movement, psychoanalysis was for the French `Anti-Oedipus movement' represented by Robert Castel, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Until now, the contribution of Foucault to this critical movement has been little known. In this paper I reconstruct in a systematic and exhaustive way Foucault's critique of psychoanalysis and, in particular, of the Oedipus-complex theory. I demonstrate that this critique presupposes a very specific epistemology and social theory. On an epistemological level, Foucault focuses on the power effects of psychoanalysis as a discourse of subjectivity. On a social-theoretical level, Foucault assumes a functionalist conception of society. These two aspects of Foucault's critique of psychoanalysis have not been adequately recognized in the discussion about his relationship to psychoanalysis (Derrida, Miller, Whitebook, among others). I argue that a fruitful dialogue between a Foucault-inspired critical social theory and psychoanalysis can take place only if these two distinct aspects are taken into account.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Enrico Castelli Gattinara;
(2018)
The Relationship between History and Epistemology in Georges Canguilhem and Gaston Bachelard
(/isis/citation/CBB327073061/)
Book
Onur Erdur;
(2018)
Die epistemologischen Jahre: Philosophie und Biologie in Frankreich, 1960-1980
(/isis/citation/CBB577433788/)
Article
François Delaporte;
(2018)
The Birth of the Clinic and the Sources of Archaeological History
(/isis/citation/CBB852374486/)
Article
Catriel Fierro;
Saulo de Freitas Araujo;
(2022)
Psychoanalysizing science itself: Psychoanalysis, philosophy of science and scientific research in the institutionalization of Argentinian psychology (1962–1983)
(/isis/citation/CBB911755989/)
Article
Gonzalo Grau-Pérez;
J. Guillermo Milán;
(2020)
Klein with Lacan: A Study on the Reception of Lacanian Ideas in Uruguay and Its Effects on Clinical Practices (1955–82)
(/isis/citation/CBB837567057/)
Article
David M. Peña-Guzmán;
(2020)
French historical epistemology: Discourse, concepts, and the norms of rationality
(/isis/citation/CBB928733497/)
Article
Martin Heinze;
(2020)
Document: Michel Foucault – Fritz Morgenthaler: Homosexuality and Freedom, from the Perspectives of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis (with new Postscript)
(/isis/citation/CBB496894309/)
Article
Line Joranger;
(2016)
Individual Perception and Cultural Development: Foucault’s 1954 Approach to Mental Illness and Its History
(/isis/citation/CBB050077916/)
Article
Joranger, Line;
(2013)
The World of Psychiatry and the World of War: Foucault's Use of Metaphors in Le pouvoir psychiatrique
(/isis/citation/CBB001201209/)
Thesis
Geary, Adam M.;
(2004)
AIDS Prevention and the Experience of Culture
(/isis/citation/CBB001562086/)
Article
Reardon, Jenny;
(2012)
The Democratic, Anti-Racist Genome? Technoscience at the Limits of Liberalism
(/isis/citation/CBB001251158/)
Article
Rosenberg, Clifford;
(2014)
Population Politics, Power and the Problem of Modernity in Stephen Kotkin's Magnetic Mountain
(/isis/citation/CBB001201561/)
Article
Mathieu Arminjon;
Régis Marion-Veyron;
(2021)
Coronavirus biopolitics: The paradox of France’s Foucauldian heritage
(/isis/citation/CBB511290956/)
Article
Hegarty, Peter;
(2007)
Getting Dirty: Psychology's History of Power
(/isis/citation/CBB000700404/)
Article
Brenninkmeijer, Jonna;
(2010)
Taking Care of One's Brain: How Manipulating the Brain Changes People's Selves
(/isis/citation/CBB000953793/)
Article
Matthewman, Steve;
(2013)
Michel Foucault, Technology, and Actor-Network Theory
(/isis/citation/CBB001201746/)
Article
Wagler, Ron;
(2009)
Foucault, the Consumer Culture, and Environmental Degradation
(/isis/citation/CBB001031179/)
Article
Magalhaes, Joanalira Corpes;
Ribeiro, Paula Regina Costa;
(2015)
Beyond the Transparent Body: A Consideration of the Methods and Strategies for Examining the Homosexual Subject
(/isis/citation/CBB001552738/)
Book
Elisabetta Basso;
Bernard E. Harcourt;
(2022)
Young Foucault: The Lille Manuscripts on Psychopathology, Phenomenology, and Anthropology, 1952–1955
(/isis/citation/CBB360044451/)
Book
Crampton, Jeremy;
Elden, Stuart;
(2007)
Space, Knowledge and Power: Foucault and Geography
(/isis/citation/CBB000930999/)
Be the first to comment!