Anti-Oedipus from philosophy of science and Foucauldian knowledge-power perspectives

Journal title PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE
Author/s Jerome C. Wakefield
Publishing Year 2023 Issue 2023/2
Language Italian Pages 26 P. 187-212 File size 122 KB
DOI 10.3280/PU2023-002002
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The conclusions of two recent books that evaluate Freud’s adamant defense of his Oedipal theory and its effects on modern family life are distilled. Logical reconstruction reveals four pivotal ar-guments Freud presents in the Little Hans case history to support Oedipal theory. Each argument is brilliant in logic but unsound when compared to the case evidence. Lacking confirmation, Oe-dipal theory remains an ad hoc attempt to save Freud’s sexual theory of the neuroses after the failure of the seduction theory. Regarding the theory’s effects, its acceptance changed family power relations in Hans’s family and modern families by creating a sense of danger in moth-er/son physical affection. This led to reduced parent/child physical affection and separation of young children from parents especially at bedtime. The child’s "suspect bed" of the anti-masturbation campaign is thus exchanged for the parents’ "protected bed, serving the new mari-tal ideal of sexual and emotional satisfaction.

Keywords: Sigmund Freud; Power/knowledge; Psychoanalysis; Oedipus complex; Little Hans

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Jerome C. Wakefield, L’anti-Edipo dalla prospettiva della filosofia della scienza e da quella foucaultiana del sapere-potere in "PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE" 2/2023, pp 187-212, DOI: 10.3280/PU2023-002002