Denial, Negation, and the Forces of the Negative: Freud, Hegel, Lacan, Spitz, and Sophocles

200 Pages·2005·4.709 MB·English

by  Wilfried Ver Eecke

Denial, Negation,
and the Forces of the Negative
SUNY series in Hegelian Studies
William Desmond, editor
D E N I A L , N E G A T I O N ,
A N D THE F O R C E S
OF THE N E G A T I V E
Freud, Hegel, Lacan, Spitz, and Sophocles
WILFRIED VER EECKE
ST A TE U N I V E R S I T Y OF NEW YORK PRESS
Published by
State University of New York Press
Albany
© 2006 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic,
magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the
prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact
State University of New York Press
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Laurie Searl
Marketing, Susan Petrie
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ver Eecke, Wilfried.
Denial, negation, and the forces of the negative : Freud, Hegel, Lacan, Spitz, and
Sophocles / Wilfried Ver Eecke.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in Hegelian studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-6599-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-6600-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939. 2. Psychoanalysis. 3. Denial (Psychology) 4. Negation
(Logic) 5. Negativity (Philosophy) 6. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770-1831. I.
Title. II. Series.
BF175.V465 2005
121'.5—dc22
2004029291
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Josiane,
with whom I crossed an ocean
to start a family in the promised land.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
One The Complex Phenomenon of Denial 7
Two The Epistemological Problem of Self-description
in Freudian Psychoanalysis 25
Three Denial and Hegel’s Philosophical Anthropology 37
Four Denial and Hegel’s Theory of the Will 47
Five A Child’s No-Saying: A Step toward Independence 61
Six Oedipus, the King: How and How Not to Undo
a Denial 91
Seven Denial, Metaphor, the Symbolic, and Freedom:
The Ontological Dimensions of Denial 101
Conclusion 123
N otes 127
Bibliography 155
Author Index 167
Subject Index 173

Acknowledgments
This book would not have been possible without the editorial assistance of
Lynn Poss and David O’Mara, supported by a Georgetown University Under­
graduate Research Opportunity grant, and Lacy Baugher and Eupil Muhn,
supported by the Department of Philosophy. I want to give special thanks to
Devra Simiu for helping to improve the style of the whole manuscript.
Several chapters have appeared before as separate articles. All have been
adapted to the interdisciplinary nature of this book. Often, I have added
extensive references to the treatment of the problem in other disciplines, in
particular, psychoanalysis, psychology, linguistics, and philosophy. I wish to
thank the following publishers for their permission to use articles in writing
some of the chapters of this book.
I made use of: Ver Eecke, W. “Ontology of Denial.” Rereading Freud: Psy­
choanalysis through Philosophy. Ed. J. Mills (Albany, NY: State University of
New York Press, 2004). 103-25, in writing chapter 1, “The Complex Phe­
nomenon of Denial,” with the kind permission of State University of New
York Press.
I made use of: Ver Eecke, W. “Epistemological Consequences of Freud’s
Theory of Negation.” Man and World 14 (1981): 111-25, in writing chapter
2, “The Epistemological Problem of Self-description in Freudian Psycho­
analysis,” with the kind permission of Kluwer Academic Publishers, copyright
owner of Man and World.
I made use of: Ver Eecke, W. “Negation and Desire in Freud and Hegel.”
Owi of Minerva 15 (1983): 11-22, in writing chapter 3, “Denial and Hegel’s
Philosophical Anthropology,” with the kind permission of Owl of Minerva.
I made use of: Ver Eecke, W. “Seeing and Saying ‘No’ Within the Theo­
ries of Spitz and Lacan,” Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought 12:3
(1989): 383-431, in writing chapter 5, “A Child’s No-Saying: A Step towards
Independence,” with the kind permission of International Universities Press,
based upon: Copyright 1989 Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, pub­
lished by International Universities Press, Inc., Madison, CT.
ix