Foucault's Three Concepts Of Psychoanalysis By Sigmund Freud

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Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), who was a physiologist, medical doctor and psychologist (Thornton). It refers to the theory behind psychological disorders within the mind as well as its treatment. All manifestations of psychoanalysis that exists today, in almost all fundamental respects, can be traced back directly to Sigmund Freud’s work. Also known as the father of psychoanalysis, he formulated the theory that the mind is a complex energy system, the analysis of which was the focus of the field of psychology (Thornton). Michel Foucault (1926–1984) was a French historian and philosopher who had strong impact not only in philosophy but also in a range of humanistic and social scientific disciplines. He focused on questioning the modern human…show more content…
Analysis Foucault’s three modes of objectification of subject can be used to understand different parts of Freudian psychoanalysis. In the disciplinary Freudian society, there existed a mode of thinking that creates a binary opposition between normal and neurotic. Foucault’s first mode of objectification of subject dealt with this social “dividing principle” which judges individuals as “insiders” (normal) or “outsiders” (pathological), or as normal or neurotic in the case of the Freudian society (Rabinow, 1984) (Milchman & Rosenberg). Thus, the objectification of the subject (into normal or neurotic) took place in a social and spatial way. Foucault’s second mode of objectification of subject deals with scientific classification. Freud structurally divided the mind and he also divided the stages of sexual development in humans. Freudian psychoanalysis excavates the mind of the neurotic patient to determine the sexual experiences (unconscious repressed conflicts) which lead to his neurotic behavior. Just like in the case of the speaking subject, his language is studied and is objectified in grammar,

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