Archives for October 2022

"The repeated attempts that have been made to improve humanity, and in particular to make it more peaceable, have failed, because nobody has understood the full depth and vigour of the instincts of aggression innate in each individual. Such efforts do not seek to do more than encourage the positive, well wishing impulses of the person while denying or suppressing his aggressive ones." Melanie Klein (The Early Development of Conscience in the Child) "Finally... there results the generally acclaimed 'popularization'...in science. This is the notorious tailoring of science's coat for the figure of a 'mixed public,' to use a tailor-like activity for a tailor-like German (sic!)." Friedrich … [Read more...]

“I wish I could count up to one without first cutting off nine of my fingers” Bill Knott (Stumped, from Collected Poems) "...his { Freud's} creation, psychoanalysis, made an incontrovertible contribution to the radical avant-garde that was transforming almost every realm of European culture. Indeed, 'The Interpretation of Dreams' and 'Ulysses' are cut from the same cloth." Joel Whitebook (The Marriage of Marx and Freud: Psychoanalysis and the Frankfurt School) "It is our occidental idea of art that has caused us to lose culture...To our inert and disinterested idea of art an authentic culture opposes a violently egoistic and magical, i.e., interested idea.'' Antonin Artaud … [Read more...]