Capercaillie on the Wire. Or: Freedom, Not Law for Psychoanalysis

This talk argues that Freud made a very liberal demand for psychoanalysis as a “procedure sui generis” that cannot be derived from other practices and should be kept as free as possible from state regimentation. With respect to the latter, I suggest that Freud failed. I argue that the practice of psychoanalysis has become increasingly regulated, subordinated to psychotherapy by means of legal and institutional constraints. Drawing upon a radical philosophy of freedom, I revive a call to free psychoanalysis from state regulation and exhort psychoanalysts to abandon their compromises with psychotherapy and the law to pursue what is unique to psychoanalytic practice: the analysis of the transference and its dangers.

Marcus Coelen is a psychoanalyst and psychoanalytic supervisor, working mainly in Berlin and New York. He also teaches literature and theory, recently at Columbia University in New York and currently at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He is the founder and co-editor of the book series “Neue Subjektile” published by Turia+Kant and an editor of the journal RISS. Zeitschrift für Psychoanalyse. He is currently leading an Open Seminar and Study Group, “The ‘Structure’ of Psychoanalysis,” through DasUnbehagen New York and the Berlin School for Psychoanalysis, in collaboration with Pulsion – International Institute Of Psychoanalysis And Psychoanalytic Psychosomatics.

Readings
Coelen, Marcus. “Auerhahn auf Strom: Oder: Freiheit, nicht Gesetz der Psychoanalyse.“ Texte – psychoanalyse. ästhetik. kulturkritik, forthcoming. English translation will be made available to those who register for the December 3 event.
Freud, Sigmund. “Observations on Transference-Love.“ In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, edited by James Strachey, 157-171, vol. 12. London: Hogarth, 1958.

Please register for access to readings and to reserve a seat and a box lunch.