This is a fairly ambitious post. Here I attempt to show how the theory of neurosis developed by the early psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler, particularly his theory of pseudo aggression or aggression that is fundamentally fictional and a defense of a deeper source of antagonism can provide an excellent addition to the standard theory of ideology … Continue reading Pseudo aggression, Contradiction, Ideology
The Politics of Resentment with Samo Tomsic
I'm happy to announce that we have an upcoming keynote lecture by Samo Tomsic on "The Politics of Resentment" on December 3rd at 7 pm. You can register for this talk here and check out our prior two sessions here (on ressentiment, sublimation and neoliberalism) and here (on Lacan, affects, and the four five discourses). … Continue reading The Politics of Resentment with Samo Tomsic
Announcing New Beyond the Pleasure Principle – Reading Series
This coming Thursday I will be starting a reading series on Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920). I will host this series via Zoom on Thursday nights starting September 24th. We will read the text closely and reference Lacan's work throughout the series. On our first night, we will consider the famous "fort-da" game that … Continue reading Announcing New Beyond the Pleasure Principle – Reading Series
The Subject Supposed to Rebel
I'm pleased to share an article I wrote based on a talk I offered to the Lacanian Forum of Washington, DC earlier this month. The editors at Everyday Analysis have provided some really useful edits to this piece. You can read "The Subject Supposed to Rebel" here.
Upcoming Talk: On the Virtue of Modesty in Lacan
Lacan has remarked that modesty is the most important virtue. Lacan thinks modesty as an affect that keeps one’s desire or symptom protected behind a veil. Yet when the veil is lifted through the gaze of the other, the subject undergoes shame. Where there is shame, the extimate part of one’s being, precisely their desire is exposed to the other. Shame thus awakens the subject to being riveted to oneself, to a foreign self inside oneself.
Colloquium Workshop: “Islam and Psychoanalysis”
You can attend a workshop I'm pleased to offer on the topic of "Islam and Psychoanalysis" at Georgetown University. Here are the details and a link to the suggested reading: Daniel Tutt: “Islam and Psychoanalysis” Time:Wednesday, February 28th, 12:30pm Location: Georgetown University, ICC 450 **Open to the public. Food provided The Department of Arabic and Islamic … Continue reading Colloquium Workshop: “Islam and Psychoanalysis”
The Psychopolitics of the Oriental Father
Review of The Psychopolitics of the Oriental Father: Between Omnipotence and Emasculation by Bülent Somay
Identification in Lacanian Psychoanalysis – Audio Lecture
As part of the clinical Wednesday series with the DC Lacanian Forum, I gave my third presentation to the group, this time on the theme of identification. I begin with an analysis of identification in Freud's Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego and look at Borch-Jacobsen's critique of Freud in his controversial The … Continue reading Identification in Lacanian Psychoanalysis – Audio Lecture
Community and Subjectivity in Contemporary Theory: Dissertation Abstract
Since I have been away from writing essays and blogs for some time, it might be of interest to readers that I share the abstract of my dissertation that I have been working on, and have just finished. This is my penultimate draft and I plan to defend it this August. Overall, I feel good … Continue reading Community and Subjectivity in Contemporary Theory: Dissertation Abstract
The Veil in Islam: A Psychoanalytic Perspective
The political philosopher Charles Taylor made an excellent observation recently when he pointed out that in those instances when multiculturalism fails to in its effort to promote a set of neutral and universal values int eh public sphere, it is often Islam that causesis often the cultural exc. The banning of the veil is an example … Continue reading The Veil in Islam: A Psychoanalytic Perspective
Enjoying What We Don’t Have: Interview with Philosopher Todd McGowan
Film theorist and philosopher Todd McGowan recently spoke with me about his new book, Enjoying What We Don’t Have: The Political Project of Psychoanalysis. For however much we throw the word "accessible" around in academic discussions as the strength of a philosophy book, McGowan's accessibility really is quite stunning. In one chapter he compared the … Continue reading Enjoying What We Don’t Have: Interview with Philosopher Todd McGowan
Millennial Narcissism as a Problem of Social Recognition
The Other, for Whitman was a wholly (holy) Other to oneself. To embrace this wholly Other other was the highest ethical act of self-love. While the faint torch of Whitman's gestalt love for the All is carried forward by obscurantist New Age spiritualists, millennials are certainly faced with the challenge of narcissism - but not as a choice they take onto themselves. Rather, millennial narcissism shows signs of revolt against a mode of subjectivity that is imposed upon them.
10 Things I’ve Learned from Psychoanalysis
In this post, I want to share my experience in psychoanalysis. Some things have been truly surprising. Concepts that were once elusive become apparent in a way that is sudden and palpable. I won’t share too much about the specifics of my analyst or get into the details of the content of what we exchange … Continue reading 10 Things I’ve Learned from Psychoanalysis
Two Paradigms of Islam and Psychoanalysis
In the literature on psychoanalysis and Islam there are two general paradigms of the subject. These two paradigms are primarily limited because they limit the question of subjectivization to the phenomenon of Islamism, violence, and fundamentalism, and they remain caught within a certain desire to impose a model of secularism that is rooted in a … Continue reading Two Paradigms of Islam and Psychoanalysis
Chimney Sweeping
Aristotle argued that greatness is always rooted in an excessive melancholia. What he meant was that individuals who posses an extraordinary insight into their own self always ipso facto suffer from that excess of knowledge. This excess of knowledge, what Lacan might call jouissance can either lead to a deep self-loathing, and longing for an … Continue reading Chimney Sweeping
Daniel Tutt 