On the Emergence of Politeness

 

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"polite sublimated civilization is a mere trace of another identity based on primordial urges."

I would argue that polite sublimated civilization EMERGES from another identity based on primordial urges. It cannot be reduced to it, any more than any emergent phenomena can be understood solely on the basis of the simple phenomena from which they emerge (e.g. you cannot understand the aesthetics of car design, say, the beauty of a Jaguar, in terms of the sub-atomic makeup of the car). The emergent phenomenon is much more than a "mere" trace— it is a whole new universe in its own right. Of course, the whole of it is in a limited sense a trace of the simpler phenomena, and some aspects of the complex phenomenon are more specifically "traces" in that they enable us to read through them and get a clearer picture of an earlier or simpler state of affairs. But let's not call a Jaguar a cloud of quarks, that's not specific enough...

JoseAngel
http://www.garcialanda.net


El 11/12/10 3:55, Norm Rosenblood escribió:
> The Mystic Writing Pad was one of the first papers assigned to my
> class when we started psychoanalytic training--nearly forty years ago.
> I would be surprised if it is on any reading list for incoming
> candidates in any institute.
>
> I recall its impact: profound. The tabula rasa of the self is an
> archive.
>
> Might not one consider psychic reality a "trace" and all language a sliver
> of reality? Wordsworth:"We come trailing clouds of glory." Graham Greene
> in BRIGHTON ROCK saw Pinky as trailing clouds of evil.
>
> Freud saw the primate struggling to reassert its nature: thus, polite
> sublimated civilization is a mere trace of another identity based on
> primordial urges.
>
> Perhaps the art of being a good analyst is being able to connect the
> traces. Freud's paper on "reconstruction" is worth digesting, another
> aspect of psychoanalysis fallen into disuse.
>
>
> Norm Rosenblood

Percepción primigenia