The two time vectors of Nachträglichkeit in the development of ego organization: Significance of the concept for the symbolization of nameless traumas and anxieties1

The author describes Freud ’s conception of Nachträglichkeit as an active process that bridges the gap between past affective vicissitudes and the cognitive present by way of meaning. Symbolization is thereby subsequently [nachträglich] conferred on early traumatic events, which thus become susceptible to omnipotent control. The two time vectors of Nachträglichkeit are discussed: the first is a causal process operating in the forward direction of time against the background of a factual reality, while the second is a backward movement that permits an understanding of unconscious scenes and phantasies taking place at primary-process level. This twofold temporal motion was observed and described by Freud early on. However, its significance often remained hidden prior to his study of Moses. It was mostly overlooked in English and French translations, thus giving rise to a one-sided understanding of the concept in the various psychoanalytic cultures, as either deferred action or après-coup. Freud ’s Moses study addresses both temporal aspects of Nachträglichkeit, seeking not only to reconstruct a past event on a causal, deterministic basis, but also to understand the subjective truth of that event in the transference along the retrograde time line. The decisive criterion for the conceptual and clinical separation of the two time vectors is the development of ego organization and the capacity for symbolization. The two vectors should not be separated on the factual level, as both aspects of Nachträglichkeit are essential to the understanding of unconscious processes, combining as they do in a relationship of circular complementarity.     

Tutor,salon, convent: the formation of women philosophers in early modern France

ABSTRACT

Excluded from the university, women authors in early modern France acquired their philosophical culture from other venues. The tutorial, the salon, and the convent school are three of the era’s most prominent institutions involved in the development of this philosophical culture for women. The writings of the poet Madame Deshoulières, the salonnière Madame de Sablé, and the abbess Angélique de Saint-Jean Arnauld d’Andilly illustrate how these institutions shaped their respective philosophical interests and imparted a particular style and set of thematic concerns to their philosophical works.     

The interaction between reading skills and reading instruction

Research on the underlying nature of reading disability, exemplified in the present papers, is essentially correlational. Differences in acoustic memory skills, partial cue utilization, or symbol-sound knowledge may be a result rather than a cause of reading skill differences. Suggestions are made on how to untangle the cause-effect problem through longitudinal investigation and careful analysis of some possible interactions between cognitive skills and reading ability.