Psychoanalytic Politics, Second Edition-轻识

Freud prophesied in 1914 that the ``final decisive battle' for psychoanalysis would take place ``where the greatest resistance [had] been displayed.' Wary of America's too easy acceptance, he suspected a dilution and distortion of his most vital and therefore most unacceptable doctrines. Among Western countries, France may well be the one that resisted Freud the longest. Yet quite suddenly, in the late 1960s, France was seized by an ``infatuation with Freudianism.' By the end of that decade, France had more than a psychoanalytic movement: it had a widespread and deeply rooted psychoanalytic culture.

At the heart of this development was Jacques Lacan's reconstruction of Freudian theory, a ``reinvention' of psychoanalysis that resonated with French culture in the aftermath of the uprisings of 1968.

While, in America, psychoanalysis has become increasingly identified with an essentially conservative medical establishment, the French rediscovery of Freud, in a dramatic enactment of Freud's prophesy, became associated with the most radical elements of French philosophical and political life. The story of Lacan, and why his work so profoundly influenced the French psyche, is told clearly and unerringly by Sherry Turkle in this groundbreaking work.

Already acclaimed as ``an absolutely indispensable contribution to the history of psychoanalysis,' this second edition of PSYCHOANALYTIC POLITICS contains two illuminating new additions. The preface explicates Lacan's impact on the French by laying out a theory of the conditions for the dissemination and acceptance of a set of philosophical positions by a culture. The final chapter, Dynasty 1991, provides a fascinating portrayal of the last years of Lacan's life, the intrigue and power struggles that resulted in the break-up of the Freudian School he founded, and the events which unfolded in the years following his death in 1981.

The heart of the book is Sherry Turkle's first-hand account of the psychoanalytic culture that developed in France--as a politicized, Gallicized, and poeticized Freudianism, deeply marked by the work of Jacques Lacan. The clearest introduction in English to Lacan's teaching, the work explores how cultures appropriate theories of mind. It is an intimate sociology of how ideas come to connect with individuals. Providing an ``inner history' of the sciences of the mind, this book will be invaluable reading for anyone with an interest in psychoanalysis, history, social theory, communications, film theory, and contemporary literary criticism.

本書作者Sherry Turkle女士曾任教美國麻省理工學院（MIT）社會系，目前則是該校科學社會學系教授，擁有哈佛大學社會學暨人格心理學博士學位，同時也是一位有執照的臨床心理學家，可以說是學術研究能力與實務經驗兼具的專家。她曾經被新聞週刊與時尚雜誌等遴選為美國的新領導階層、網路菁英、與年度風雲女性等。本書出版後著名的連線雜誌、與科學雜誌也曾給予大幅報導與專訪。此外，她還經常受邀至各大學與學術機構發表演說，以及在夜線節目與CBS新聞中參與座談。Turkle的博士論文是有關當代心理分析大師佛洛依德與拉岡的理論性著作，後來構成他的第一本著作《心理分析的政治》(Psychoanalytic Politics: Freud’s French Revolution)的基礎。其後自1980年代以來，她開始專注於探討科技與人類自我認知之間的關係，她的第二本書《第二個自我》（The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit，遠流翻譯出版為《電腦革命》）就是以兒童面對電腦的態度來分析兒童在面對電腦時，所形成對生命本質的新看法。由她們如何把電腦視為另一個有生命的對象，藉此說明電腦的出現促使我們重新思考生命與智能的本質，以及循此產生的人與機器之間差異的問題。相對於《第二個自我》處理個人面對一部電腦時，所返照出對生命、智能，以及隨之對人類自身的自我認知問題，在《螢幕生涯》這本書裡，Turkle所關注的則是人與人之間藉著電腦網路的連結／隔離所架構出來的人際關係對自我認同的影響。從作者的學術背景來看，顯示出她理論思考與實質研究都相當擅長，再加上MIT著名的媒體實驗室，作者身處那個環境中不僅得到許多知名同僚的協助，也親身參與了許多跨領域的研究計畫，而她自身也有相當豐富上網經驗。從各方面來看，都很有資格撰寫這樣一本網友如何在螢幕上生活的書。