This is big, so here is a breakdown. Chapter #1 Introduction, Homo Sapiens #2 Freud, Lacan #3 Jung, Adler #4 Existentialism #5 Cognitive Behavioural #6 Positive and Transpersonal #7 Evolutionary #8 Brain and Neuroscience #9 Childhood, Attachment Theory #10 Psychopathology, Relationships and tips #11 Interviews, Talks

Psychology

Discussing Civilization and its Discontents (1930).

This is a 32-minute preview of our vintage 2 hr, 5-minute episode which you can buy at partiallyexaminedlife.com/store or get for free with PEL Citizenship (see partiallyexaminedlife.com/membership). You can also purchase the full episode in the iTunes Store: Search for “Partially Examined Freud” and look under “Albums.”

What’s the meaning of life? Well, for Sigmund Freud, an objective purpose rises or falls with religion, which he thinks a matter of clinging to illusion, so to rephrase: what do we want out of life? To be happy, of course, yet he sees happiness as a matter of fulfillment of pent-up desires, meaning it’s by its nature temporary. Yet we can’t shake off its pursuit, and so we’re in a bind, and have a number of strategies for obtaining some satisfaction: some compensation for what we have to repress in order to live in a society that forces us to repress our innate desires.

Buy the full episode

PREVIEW Freud on the Human Condition - Partially Examined Life

This week Taylor and I discussed Freud's On Narcissism.

Narcissus Unbound

On Bruce Fink’s The Lacanian Subject (1996) and Lacan’s “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience” (1949).

What is the self? Is that the same as the experiencing subject? Lacan says no: while the self (the ego) is an imaginative creation, cemented by language, the subject is something else, something split (at least initially) between consciousness and the unconscious. Lacan mixes this Freudian picture with semiotics–an emphasis on systems of linguistic symbols–using this to both create his picture of the psyche and explain how psychological disorders arise.

The regular PEL foursome (with Wes acting much like a guest due to his formal study of psychoanalysis) try to make sense of this complex picture as presented by American psychoanalyst Fink and complain about Lacan’s language as they wade into the nearly impenetrable writing of the Frenchman himself. Featuring the alienation of language! Eruptions into consciousness! Undifferentiated needs! “The Real” opposing “reality!” A baby preening in front of a mirror! Castration! And introducing the mysterious “object a!”

Go to blog

Lacan on the Self and Subjectivity - Partially Examined Life

First lecture in a new series exploring the structure, meaning, and challenges facing our experience of identity. Presented by Wesley Cecil PhD. 
www.wescecil.com
https://www.instagram.com/humanearts/

Identity - Introduction And Chimpanzees

Part two of my series on identity explores the notion that identity has not really been a problem for almost anyone in the last 200,000 years. It truly is a modern problem.

www.wescecil.com for information about the class

Identity Part Two - From Chimps To The Modern World In One Big Step

This lecture explores the necessity of controlling what occupies our attention in a world the tends to undermine any sense of identity.

Identity Part Eight - The Garden Of The Mind

In this episode, Ryan and Todd trace the development of the concept of the superego from Freud's invention of it in the Ego and the Id to Jacques Lacan's development of it through his seminars to Slavoj Zizek's theorizing of it as a political category. They examine the link between superego and social authority, focusing on the role that enjoyment plays in superegoic logic.

Superego

In this second in a series of three episodes, Ryan and Todd discuss the trajectory of the concept of the ego from Freud to Lacan. They investigate how Lacan's critique of the ego reshapes psychoanalytic thinking by distancing the subject from ego.

Ryan and Todd conduct a thorough exploration of Freud's 1920 text Beyond the Pleasure Principle, beginning with the claim that this represents Freud at his most radical and original point. They look at the notion of death drive that Freud develops and trace how he comes to abandon the idea of the primacy of the pleasure principle.

Beyond the Pleasure Principle

Ryan and Todd provide their reading of Jacques Lacan's Seminar III devoted to the psychoses. They focus on the idea of the foreclosure of the paternal signifier while also addressing the role that Lacan theorizing the imaginary having in psychosis. They also outline the theory of the signifier that Lacan articulates in this seminar and how it relates to his later theorizing.

Seminar 3

Ryan and Todd analyze Freud's essay "Wild Psychoanalysis" and delve into the problem of treating symptoms with knowledge rather than addressing the enjoyment that they offer. Even though this is a minor Freud essay, it provides one of the pillars for a psychoanalytic approach to politics.

Wild Psychoanalysis

Delve into the profound connection between compassion and evolution in this enlightening talk by Paul Gilbert. Discover how Compassion Focus Therapy, deeply rooted in understanding affiliative processing, offers insights into our motivations. Explore compassion as a potent motivation, encompassing sensitivity to suffering and an unwavering commitment to alleviating it. Gilbert unveils the core elements of compassion—courage to confront suffering and a resolute dedication to its relief. Learn how compassion intertwines with self-identity, the timeless Golden Rule, and ethical considerations. Gain fresh perspective on compassion's true essence: not mere niceness, but an active engagement with and transformation of suffering. Join us for a thought-provoking journey into the depths of human empathy and evolution.

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Professor Paul Gilbert, FBPsS, PhD, OBE is a British clinical psychologist, the founder of compassion focused therapy (CFT), compassionate mind training (CMT) and author of books such as The Compassionate Mind: A New Approach to Life’s Challenges, Overcoming Depression.

He has researched evolutionary approaches to psychopathology for over 40 years with a special focus on the roles of mood, shame and self-criticism in various mental health difficulties for which Compassion Focused Therapy was developed. Professor Gilbert has written/edited 21 books and over 200 papers. In 2006 he established the Compassionate Mind Foundation as an international charity with the mission statement: “To promote wellbeing through the scientific understanding and application of compassion”.

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Interview Links:

— Professor Gilbert's website: https://www.compassionatemind.co.uk

— Compassion Focused Therapy: Clinical Practice and Application: https://amzn.to/3ReGXAR 

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3 Books Professor Gilbert Recommends Every Therapist Should Read: 

— The Discovery Of The Unconscious - Henri Ellenberger: https://amzn.to/3uzAWVF 

— Archetype: A Natural History of the Self - Anthony Stevens: https://amzn.to/3PeTL8F 

— Civilized to Death - Chris Ryan: https://amzn.to/3yuzOnE

The Evolutionary Psychology of Compassion - Prof. Paul Gilbert OBE

On Sigmund Freud's On Dreams (1902), a bit of The Interpretation of Dreams (1899), and the lecture, “Revision of the Theory of Dreams” (1933).

Are dreams just a bunch of random crap? Freud says, no, they're actually the first and best way to figure out the structure of the mind, which (surprise) involves the unconscious and how repressed, anti-social desires get (sort of) revealed to us, albeit smashed together through chains of association with what seems like random crap.

How can Freud support such a view? Is it science? What are its implications for our capacity to philosophize? Mark, Wes, Seth, and Dylan are here to sort of hint at telling you, but in a repressed sort of way. Read more about the topic and get the texts. Sign up to attend the Aftershow on Sun., 6/7, 3pm Eastern.

Freud on Dreams (Part 1)

Continuing our discussion of Sigmund Freud's On Dreams (1902) and related works. Listen to Part One first:

https://soundcloud.com/partially-examined-life/freud-on-dreams

Please become a PEL Citizen or make a donation.

End song: "Sleep" by Mark Lint. 

Freud on Dreams (Part 2)

Julie Walsh (Warwick University) ‘1914: Psychoanalysis and the Narcissistic Wound’. June 3rd, The Humanities Institute, UCD.

Julie Walsh is a Global Research Fellow at Warwick University and a practicing psychoanalytic psychotherapist qualified with the SITE for Contemporary Psychoanalysis in London. Her latest book is called Narcissism and its Discontents (Palgrave, 2014) and her current research project explores the relationship between shame and sociability.

Part of Wartime Attachments: Two talks on the psychiatry and psychoanalysis of World War I

The event was organised by Dr Barry Sheils, Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow.

Julie Walsh - 1914: Psychoanalysis and the Narcissistic Wound

Theory Talk is a critical thinking jam session. In this episode, Joe and Taylor discuss the logic of the unconscious; presence and absence; the rhythm of memory; symptom enjoyment; trauma and stratification; the paradox of censorship; Freud’s clientele; rumination; and why the President is unhappy.

Ep. 12: Psychoanalysis

In this episode, Todd and I work through two of psychoanalytic theory's most fundamental terms: desire and drive. Despite how fundamental these terms are there exists a fair amount of disagreement. Far from being generally agreed upon first principles, desire and drive are consistent sites for some of psychoanalysis's most interesting interventions (e.g. Alenka Zupancic's What is Sex? and Lee Edelman's No Future, both discussed in this episode). As always: thanks so much for listening! We very much appreciate it.

Fall 2018

Desire & Drive

In this episode, Ryan and Todd discuss the Lacanian aphorism, "The big Other does not exist." They try to understand what Lacan means with the notion of big Other, contrasting it with symbolic order and ideology. Then they work out the relationship between time and the recognition of the big Other's nonexistence.

Big Other (Aphorism 6)

In this episode, Joel and Antonia talk about the book Sapiens and the shared reality of human myths.

Personality Hacker Podcast

The Shared Myths Of Sapiens | PODCAST 0337

In this episode, Ryan and Todd go through Freud's rich late text Civilization and Its Discontents. They discuss the oceanic feeling, Freud's critique of religion, the relationship between death drive and aggression, and other subjects that Freud engages.

Civilization and Its Discontents

We dance in a fog of love and darkness @mosskissing
A beautiful thing is never perfect @clara-margarita-ntahoel
Thesis, antithesis, aposynthesis. P.G. @Henkel

Indulgere Genio

Psychology

BasilAth