An ordeal of the real: shame and the superego
This essay argues that the renovation of a discourse of shame in late capitalist society requires revisiting the conventional Freudian literature on shame from a Lacanian point of view. The argument holds that shame is a subjective manifestation of a complex dialectics between the ego-ideal and the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of the Free State
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Acta Academica |
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| Online Access: | http://196.255.246.28/index.php/aa/article/view/5468 |
| _version_ | 1797258303629164544 |
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| author | Jaco Barnard-Naudé |
| author_facet | Jaco Barnard-Naudé |
| author_sort | Jaco Barnard-Naudé |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This essay argues that the renovation of a discourse of shame in late capitalist society requires revisiting the conventional Freudian literature on shame from a Lacanian point of view. The argument holds that shame is a subjective manifestation of a complex dialectics between the ego-ideal and the superego. The essay extends the Lacanian notion that shame is felt in relation to an “Other prior to the Other”. Under the dialectical pressure of the ego-ideal, the superego, it is argued, plays a paradoxical but ineliminable role in the production of shame. In the concluding parts of the essay, I tease out the radical socio-political consequences of a renovated Lacanian discourse of shame. Correlated to the death drive, shame offers an escape from the capitalist symbolic order’s predeterminations and pre-assigned identifications. As such, shame is designated not only as the telos of psychoanalysis, but also as the original and originary ethical relation.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T22:51:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-775ebb1418704afc8bfabedf1be5dd1c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0587-2405 2415-0479 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T22:51:24Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | University of the Free State |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Academica |
| spelling | doaj.art-775ebb1418704afc8bfabedf1be5dd1c2024-03-18T11:04:20ZengUniversity of the Free StateActa Academica0587-24052415-04792021-07-0153110.18820/24150479/aa53i1.1An ordeal of the real: shame and the superegoJaco Barnard-Naudé0University of Cape Town, South Africa This essay argues that the renovation of a discourse of shame in late capitalist society requires revisiting the conventional Freudian literature on shame from a Lacanian point of view. The argument holds that shame is a subjective manifestation of a complex dialectics between the ego-ideal and the superego. The essay extends the Lacanian notion that shame is felt in relation to an “Other prior to the Other”. Under the dialectical pressure of the ego-ideal, the superego, it is argued, plays a paradoxical but ineliminable role in the production of shame. In the concluding parts of the essay, I tease out the radical socio-political consequences of a renovated Lacanian discourse of shame. Correlated to the death drive, shame offers an escape from the capitalist symbolic order’s predeterminations and pre-assigned identifications. As such, shame is designated not only as the telos of psychoanalysis, but also as the original and originary ethical relation. http://196.255.246.28/index.php/aa/article/view/5468shamesuperegoego-idealdeath drive |
| spellingShingle | Jaco Barnard-Naudé An ordeal of the real: shame and the superego Acta Academica shame superego ego-ideal death drive |
| title | An ordeal of the real: shame and the superego |
| title_full | An ordeal of the real: shame and the superego |
| title_fullStr | An ordeal of the real: shame and the superego |
| title_full_unstemmed | An ordeal of the real: shame and the superego |
| title_short | An ordeal of the real: shame and the superego |
| title_sort | ordeal of the real shame and the superego |
| topic | shame superego ego-ideal death drive |
| url | http://196.255.246.28/index.php/aa/article/view/5468 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jacobarnardnaude anordealoftherealshameandthesuperego AT jacobarnardnaude ordealoftherealshameandthesuperego |