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PARRHESIA, PHAEDRA, AND THE POLIS: ANTICIPATING PSYCHOANALYTIC FREE ASSOCIATION AS DEMOCRATIC PRACTICE
1Co-chair of the Independent Track and faculty member at New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and a faculty member and supervisor at the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity in New York.
The Psychoanalytic Quarterly
|July 23, 2015
Summary
This essay connects psychoanalytic free association with ancient Greek parrhesia (free speech). It highlights how classical drama, like Euripides
Area of Science:
- Psychoanalysis and Political Philosophy
- Classical Studies and Ancient History
- Rhetoric and Communication Studies
Background:
- The concept of free speech, or parrhesia, was central to Athenian democracy.
- Psychoanalytic free association is a core therapeutic technique.
- The relationship between free speech and embodiment remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the analogy between psychoanalytic free association and democratic free speech.
- To examine the relevance of Athenian parrhesia to psychoanalytic theory.
- To investigate the connection between free speech and female embodiment through classical drama.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of psychoanalytic theory and classical Athenian political discourse.
- Literary analysis of Euripides's Hippolytus to illustrate the concept of parrhesia.
- Philosophical inquiry into the ethical and political dimensions of speech.
Main Results:
- Parrhesia in classical Athens offers a relevant model for understanding psychoanalytic free association.
- Euripides's tragedy demonstrates a historical link between free speech and the female body.
- Psychoanalysis can benefit from conceptualizing a 'polis' as a space mediating public and private.
Conclusions:
- The analogy between free association and parrhesia enriches both psychoanalytic and political theory.
- Understanding free speech requires attention to embodiment, particularly female embodiment.
- Psychoanalysis should develop its own concept of the polis to navigate ethical and social spaces.
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