On Sublimation

Although it encapsulates the Freudian theory of art, the theory of sublimation has become outmoded. What is more, since its inception there has always been something ill‐defined about it. Does it use sexualized or de‐sexualized drive energy? Is it a defence or an alternative to defence? Does it serve Eros or Thanatos? Is it useful in clinical work or is it unusable? The only, albeit uncertain, aid to a definition relies on the extrinsic criterion of concrete artistic realization. My aim here to revisit and possibly ‘reinvent’ sublimation in the light of certain principles of the pre‐Romantic aesthetics of the sublime. Both are theories of spiritual elevation, in other words, elevation that moves towards abstract thinking, and of man's ‘moral’ achievement; and both attempt to explain the mystery of aesthetic experience. On the one hand, the aesthetics of the sublime offers a modern myth that helps us articulate a series of factors occasionally referred to by various authors as constitutive of sublimation but which have not been incorporated into a single organic framework: loss and early mourning work; the earlier existence of a catastrophic factor – to be regarded, depending on the situation, as either traumatic or simply ‘negative’; the correspondence with a process of somatopsychic categorization which coincides with subjectivity. On the other hand, it also helps us grasp the experience of negative pleasure empathically, living it ‘from the inside’.     

马克思主义与中华民族精神的发展与升华

马克思主义对中华民族精神的发展产生了重要的影响,由于它把追求精神解放作为其理论指归,具有解放无产阶级的功能,冲击和改变了传统的历史观,因此它改变了中国人精神发展的方向,重塑了中国人的人生观,再造了中国人的价值观,改造了中华民族精神。     

民国初年国人科学观念的升华——从社会调查兴起角度的考察

鸦片战争前后，社会调查传入中国。戊戌维新时期中国人开始介绍西方的社会学和社会调查方法。进入20世纪，中国留日学生开始进行社会调查，并迅速影响到国内，清末中国掀起了一股社会调查的潮流。民国初年，社会调查走向繁荣，各类知识分子均热衷于社会调 查。知识分子对社会调查的热衷不是一时冲动的结果，对社会调查崇尚的背后是国人科学观念的历史性升华。     

Sublimation and das Ding in Mahler's Symphony no. 8

This paper addresses sublimation in Gustav Mahler's Symphony no. 8 through Lacan's (1986, 1992) notion of das Ding, the Thing. The author reads Lacan as using das Ding, a term taken from Freud, as shorthand for archaic experience. Lacan provides a reference point when he states that "the Kleinian doctrine places the mother's body there" (1992, p. 117). Das Ding refers to unmediated contact with the Other, usually mother, in which traces of a primitive gratification mark the loss of immediacy, point to a lost object, and establish the trajectory of desire. Sublimation is an attempt to bring us into contact with das Ding.     

On Phallicism; Developmental Aspects,Neutralization, Sublimation and Defensive Phallicism

Many children in need of psychotherapy are latency-age boys who have little or no contact with their fathers. Their problems typically include low self-esteem, identity problems, depression, difficulties in peer relationships, and aggression. Clinical material illustrates that the consequences for the child of fatherlessness depend on many factors, among them the mother's attitude to the father and other mature males. If the mother devalues all men, her son has little space to grow into a healthy adult. The male therapist may be experienced as a threat to the mother-son union, which may render his efforts to help the boy fruitless. If, in contrast, the mother's experiences of her own father and other men are more positive, her pride in her son's masculinity may strengthen his need to find support for his male development. These observations are discussed as affecting the capacity for triadic object representations in mothers and sons.     

Sigmund Freud and James Putnam: Friendship as a Form of Sublimation

This article focuses on Freud’s lectures at Clark University in 1909 and the correspondence that followed from Freud’s visit to America with the Boston neurologist James Jackson Putnam. Particular emphasis is given to the concept of sublimation, specifically to Putnam’s desire to make sublimation a goal of psychoanalysis and his view that sublimations should reflect the individual’s recognition of the interests of the community or desire for an ideal community. Against Putnam, we endorse Freud’s view that sublimation should not be a goal of psychoanalysis. However, we support Putnam’s emphasis on the social value of sublimations, but in a more limited sense than he proposes in his correspondence with Freud. We suggest that the correspondence between Putnam and Freud reflects the very fact that the lifting of sexual repressions makes possible the development of male friendships. Thus, we view the correspondence between Freud and Putnam as an instance of sublimation, and suggest that the friendship that this correspondence reflected and nurtured is an example of the ideal community to which we humans aspire but which often remains elusive and unrealized.     

Sublimation and Symbolization: The Case of Dental Anxiety and the Symbolic Meaning of Teeth

In a previous article (Capps and Carlin 2009) we discussed Freud’s visit to the United States in 1909 and the occasion it afforded for James Putnam to meet him and become an advocate of psychoanalysis. We focused on their subsequent correspondence on the concept of sublimation and argued that this correspondence reflected the fact that friendship may be a form of sublimation. In this article we focus on Isador H. Coriat, an advocate of psychoanalysis from the same time period (1910s). We show that his early psychoanalytic writings (Coriat 1917, 1920) not only support our earlier argument but also make a strong case for the role of symbolization in the process of sublimation. We also note his emphasis on the potential role of living religion in the sublimation process. We then discuss his later article on dental anxiety (Coriat 1946) and writings by other psychoanalytic authors to make the case that the patient’s conscious understanding of the meaning of the symbols—in this case, teeth-related symbols—is essential, for otherwise the energies invested in maintaining the repression will be unavailable to the sublimation process. This leads to a consideration of the role that living religion may play in the sublimation of teeth-related anxieties. We conclude that humor may also serve as a proxy for religion in this regard.     

性伦理关系的规范调节和精神升华--《性伦理学新论》评介

人类男女两性关系是人类社会绵延不绝的必经途径,也影响着良好的婚姻、家庭、社会伦理秩序的形成.从构词法上看,"性"本身就是"心"和"生"的会意,"心"是指道德能力,而"生"是指自然本能,这就在人的自然情欲和道德意志的张力之间形成了人之为人的内在冲突.从更为广泛的意义上来说,两性关系涉及双方的意志自由和权益责任,需要用道德、法律等社会规范加以调节.因此,人类两性关系已经超越了单纯的自然关系,成为具有伦理意义的社会关系.对人类性伦理关系如何从原始社会的简约严酷,经过封建社会的神秘愚昧、资本主义社会的自由不羁而发展到社会主义社会的健康美好的研究,是社会主义性伦理学的历史使命.     

Freudian Defense Mechanisms and Empirical Findings in Modern Social Psychology: Reaction Formation, Projection, Displacement, Undoing, Isolation, Sublimation, and Denial

Recent studies in social psychology are reviewed for evidence relevant to seven Freudian defense mechanisms. This work emphasizes normal populations, moderate rather than extreme forms of defense, and protection of self-esteem against threat. Reaction formation, isolation, and denial have been amply shown in studies, and they do seem to serve defensive functions. Undoing, in the sense of counterfactual thinking, is also well documented but does not serve to defend against the threat. Projection is evident, but the projection itself may be aby-product of defense rather than part of the defensive response itself. Displacement is not well supported in any meaningful sense, although emotions and physical arousal states do carry over from one situation to the next. No evidence of sublimation was found.