Description
Thinking, Desire, and Jouissance: Beyond Hannah Arendt
Book Summary
This work proposes an original reading of the Holocaust based on the psychoanalytic categories of Jacques Lacan: thinking, desire, and jouissance. The author, Laura C. Arias Rodríguez, engages in a dialogue with political philosophy to analyze the historical production of the subject that made totalitarianism possible. The book expands the analysis beyond the theses of Hannah Arendt, incorporating the dimension of the cultural unconscious. It thus offers a novel theoretical framework to decipher the subjectivity that generates totalitarianism, questioning the principles of knowledge, interpretation, and truth in force until then.
What is it about?
The book starts from the event of the Holocaust as a fact that disrupted the foundations of Western thought. The author maintains that this event was not only a historical catastrophe, but that it also traversed the collective unconscious of culture, putting the certainties of traditional science and philosophy into crisis.
Through a critical dialogue with the work of Hannah Arendt, especially her analysis of the banality of evil and the origins of totalitarianism, the author introduces the tools of Lacanian psychoanalysis. It examines how the categories of thinking, desire, and jouissance operate in the configuration of a subjectivity capable of sustaining and perpetuating totalitarian regimes. The objective is to build a theoretical framework that allows for the understanding of the deep, often unconscious, roots of extreme political violence.
Main Themes
- Analysis of the Holocaust from a psychoanalytic and philosophical perspective.
- Critique and expansion of Hannah Arendt's thought on totalitarianism and the banality of evil.
- Study of Lacanian categories (thinking, desire, jouissance) applied to the production of the political subject.
- Exploration of the cultural unconscious and its relationship with historical phenomena of violence.
- Questioning of the principles of truth and knowledge in the human sciences after the Holocaust.
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at readers with an interest in political philosophy, psychoanalysis, critical theory, and contemporary history. It is especially relevant for students and researchers seeking theoretical tools to understand the subjectivity behind totalitarianism, as well as for those who wish to delve into the debate between the thought of Hannah Arendt and Lacanian psychoanalysis.
What this book contributes
- An interdisciplinary perspective that integrates philosophy, psychoanalysis, and political theory to address historical violence.
- A novel theoretical framework for deciphering the subjective and unconscious bases of totalitarianism.
- A critical and expanded reading of Hannah Arendt's work, enriched with Lacanian categories.
- Conceptual tools to reflect on the relationship between desire, jouissance, and political action.
Technical Data
- Author: Arias Rodríguez, Laura C.
- Publisher: Anthropos Editorial
- Language: Spanish
- Subject: Social and political philosophy, psychoanalytic theory, totalitarianism, ethics and moral philosophy, literary essays, religion and beliefs
- Collection: CRITICAL / UTOPIAN THOUGHT
- Binding: Paperback
- Edition Date: December 2016
- Number of pages: 352
- Weight: 435 g
Editorial Review
This is a rigorous and ambitious work that offers an original reading of one of the most traumatic events of the 20th century. The author succeeds in building a solid bridge between political philosophy and psychoanalysis, offering conceptual tools of great value for those seeking to understand the subjective roots of political violence. It is a demanding, yet rewarding book for the specialized reader or those with prior training in the subjects addressed.