Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis
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Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis (Slovene: Ljubljanska psihoanalitska šola or Ljubljanska šola za psihoanalizo), also known as the Ljubljana Lacanian School[1] (Slovene: Ljubljanska lakanovska šola), is a popular name for a school of thought centred on the Society for Theoretical Psychoanalysis based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Philosophers related to School include Rastko Močnik, Slavoj Žižek, Mladen Dolar, Alenka Zupančič, Miran Božovič and Eva Bahovec. Other scholars associated with the school include philosophers Zdravko Kobe, Rado Riha, Jelica Šumič Riha, sociologist Renata Salecl and philosopher Peter Klepec.
Historical background
The school was founded in the late 1970s by young Slovenian followers of the theories of the French
The group was formed around a young generation of
The main goal of the Ljubljana School was to re-interpret Marxism by emphasizing the rootedness of
A specific feature of the Ljubljana School was to connect the Marxist and Hegelian traditions with Lacanian psychoanalysis and with Structuralism. The combined reading of Lacan, German idealism (especially Hegel), Marx, the Frankfurt school and authors from the structuralist tradition, especially Claude Lévi-Strauss, has since been the distinctive feature of the Ljubljana School.
Theoretical work
The Ljubljana School of Psychoanalysis focuses on the following areas:[2]
- readings of modern and classical philosophy (especially German idealism) through the theory of Jacques Lacan;
- elaboration of Lacanian theories of ideology and power (both of the Communist regime in the 1980s and the liberal democracy after 1990);
- analysis of culture and art, with a special emphasis on cinema.
Institutional frame
The school first emerged in the late 1970s as a distinct intellectual group within the alternative journal
In 1985, the journal Problemi launched the Analecta book series, publishing more than 60 monographs since, mostly translations of classical and contemporary philosophers (e.g.
Nevertheless, the academic activity has mostly been taking place within the University of Ljubljana and the various institutes and departments associated to it (such as the Faculty of Arts and the Institute for Sociology) and the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Controversy
The popular name of "Ljubljana School of Psychoanalysis" is seen as problematic by some, since none of its members is a practicing psychoanalyst. The issue was raised by The Slovenian Society For Lacanian Psychoanalysis in 2015.
The Slovene Society for Theoretical Analysis, around which the popular name is centered, responded that its work is "focused on intersections and encounters between philosophy and psychoanalysis. It has never pretended to deal with anything else but the theoretical psychoanalysis, and this entails no conflict with psychoanalytic practice nor has anyone ever maintained that the one would be a replacement for the other."[3]
In 2016 the Slovenian Lacanian psychoanalyst Nina Krajnik launched an international initiative with the claim that Ljubljana School tried to prevent the presence of the Lacanian psychoanalysis in Slovenia and that several academic articles of the members of Ljubljana School are based on plagiarism.[4] In 2017 the World Association for Psychoanalysis gave a support to Krajnik's claim.[5]
Debates
Members of the Slovenian School of Psychoanalysis have engaged in a number of high profile debates.
See also
References
- ^ "Newsletter" (PDF). washington.embassy.si. 1 March 2007. [dead link]
- ^ Elisabeth & Edmond Wright, eds., The Žićek Reader (Blackewell Publishing, 1998), 1-2
- ^ "Knjižna zbirka Analecta in revija Problemi". drustvo-dtp.si. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
- ^ "International initiative". sdzlp.si/. Retrieved 19 December 2017.[dead link]
- ^ "Žižek, the fraud". lacanquotidien.fr/blog/. Retrieved 19 December 2017.[dead link]
- ^ "Peterson–Žižek debate". 9 April 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023 – via Wikipedia.
- ^ "Rousselle's Ongoing Debate with Slavoj Zizek". 3 December 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
Sources
- The Times Higher Education Supplement
- Glossary of American- Slovenian relations[permanent dead link]