The Problem of Demarcation: Psychoanalysis and the Occult

Gyimesi J (2009)


Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2009

Journal

Book Volume: 66

Pages Range: 457-470

Issue: 4

DOI: 10.1353/aim.0.0064

Abstract

The aim of this article is to outline some aspects of the problem of demarcation in the early history of psychoanalysis, as it pertains to the growing interest in occult phenomena. The nineteenth-century scientific interest in occult phenomena played a fundamental role in the history of psychoanalysis since the examination of the occult called attention to the possible dissociation of the psyche. The theories of subconscious or subliminal tendencies were strongly connected with such dissociation. Psychoanalysis had a special significance in this context since it offered a medicalized, rational-logical explanation of the unconscious. Therefore, the Freudian concept of the unconscious could split off the spiritualist or transcendent meaning of the subconscious tendencies and meet the demands of medical materialism with the theory of sexuality.

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How to cite

APA:

Gyimesi, J. (2009). The Problem of Demarcation: Psychoanalysis and the Occult. American Imago, 66, 457-470. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/aim.0.0064

MLA:

Gyimesi, Julia. "The Problem of Demarcation: Psychoanalysis and the Occult." American Imago 66 (2009): 457-470.

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