Prerequisits:

None required.

Content (Syllabus outline):

1. The History of Psychoanalysis:
   • The genealogy of fundamental psychoanalytic concepts
   • Freud and the Freudian circle
   • The development of psychoanalytic technique (from hypnosis to transference)
   • The theory of sexuality
   • The three clinical structures: neurosis, psychosis, perversion
2. Epistemology of Psychoanalysis:
   1. The relationship between the universal and the particular
   2. The status of the case in psychoanalysis
   3. Empiricism and speculation
   4. Psychoanalysis and structural linguistics
   5. Psychoanalysis and science
3. Metapsychology:
   • The pleasure principle and the reality principle
   • Repression, resistance, symptom
   • The theory of drives
   • The unconscious, conscious, and preconscious
   • The ego, id, and superego
   • The theory of trauma
   • Sublimation
4. Group Psychology, Cultural Theory, and Religion:
   • What is a group?
   • Civilisation and its discontents
   • Monotheism and the theory of religion
   • The theory of art
   • Humour, comedy, wit
5. Lacan’s “Return to Freud”:
   • The four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis (the unconscious, repetition, transference, and drive)
   • The theory of the signifier
   • The theory of the subject and object
   • The real, the symbolic, and the imaginary
   • The structure and logic of fantasy
   • The ethics of psychoanalysis
   • The theory of discourse
   • Variations of jouissance
   • Religion and atheism
   • Affects in psychoanalysis (anxiety, shame, guilt, etc.)

Primary literature (excerpts from individual works):

• Freud, S. 1977. Predavanja za uvod v psihoanalizo. Ljubljana: DZS.
• Freud, S. 1995. Tri razprave o teoriji seksualnosti. Ljubljana: Studia humanitatis.
• Freud, S. 2000. Interpretacija sanj. Ljubljana: Studia humanitatis.
• Freud, S. 2000. Spisi o umetnosti. Ljubljana: Založba /*cf.
• Freud, S. 2001. Nelagodje v kulturi. Ljubljana: Gyros.
• Freud, S. 2001. Inhibicija, simptom in tesnoba. Ljubljana: Analecta.
• Freud, S. 2012. Metapsihološki spisi. Ljubljana: Studia humanitatis.
• Freud, S. 2004. Mož Mojzes in monoteistična religija.
• Freud, S. 2005. Spisi o psihoanalitični tehniki. Ljubljana: Analecta.
• Freud, S. 2005. Pet analiz. Ljubljana: Analecta in Studia humanitatis.
• Freud, S. 2023. Nova predavanja za uvod v psihoanalizo. Ljubljana: Analecta.
• Lacan, J. 1985. Še. Ljubljana: Delavska enotnost.
• Lacan, J. 1988. Etika Psihoanalize. Ljubljana: Delavska enotnost.
• Lacan, J. 1994. Spisi. Ljubljana: Analecta.
• Lacan, J. 1996. Štirje temeljni koncepti psihoanalize. Ljubljana: Analecta.
• Lacan, J. 2008. Narobna stran psihoanalize. Ljubljana: Analecta.
• Lacan, J. 2014. The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book X: Anxiety. Malden: Polity Press.
• Laplanche, J. 2008. Seksualnost in enigma. Ljubljana: Analecta.
• Saussure, F. de. 1995. Predavanja iz splošnega jezikoslovja. Ljubljana: Studia humanitatis.

Secondary literature (excerpts from individual works):

• Boothby, R. 2001. Freud as Philosopher. New York in London: Routledge.
• Deleuze, G. 2000. Mazohizem in zakon. Ljubljana: Analecta.
• Leader, D. 2024. Kraja Mone Lize: Kaj nam umetnost preprečuje videti? Ljubljana: Analecta.
• McGowan, T. 2021. Nadjaz in zakon. Problemi 9-10, str. 29-48.
• Milner, J.-C. 2003. Strukturalizem: liki in paradigma. Ljubljana: Krtina.
• Milner, J.-C. 2005. Jasno delo: Lacan, znanost, filozofija.
• Zupančič Žerdin, A. 2011. Seksualno in ontologija. Ljubljana: Analecta.
• Žižek, S. 1994. Metastases of Enjoyment. London: Verso

Objectives and competences:

The course will provide students with a comprehensive introduction to the diverse dimensions of psychoanalysis, including its technique, epistemology, metapsychology, group psychology, and its theories of society, culture, and religion. Through the study of seminal texts and other sources, we will examine the context in which psychoanalysis emerged under Freud and the leading figures of the Freudian circle, as well as the transformations it underwent through Lacan and contemporary thinkers.

By analysing specific cases and Freud’s reflections on psychoanalytic technique, we will trace the evolution of psychoanalytic practice and establish the foundational coordinates of its relationship with psychoanalytic theory. Special emphasis will be placed on metapsychology as a speculative methodological framework, as articulated by Freud, Lacan, and others.
The course will explore the history and genealogy of Freud’s core concepts—such as the unconscious, drive, repression, the pleasure and reality principles, and sublimation—while engaging with the debates and discussions within the psychoanalytic movement that shaped or redefined these ideas.

Additionally, we will investigate the diverse ways psychoanalysis has theorised the relationship between the individual and the collective or social, from Freud’s Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego and Civilisation and Its Discontents to Lacan’s exploration of discourses in his later seminars.

Within the framework of Lacan’s so-called “return to Freud,” the course highlights key concepts and logics distinctive to Lacan’s work, such as the logic of the signifier, the logic of desire, trauma and the logic of repression, and the formulae of sexuation. Furthermore, Lacan’s nuanced elaborations on foundational psychoanalytic affects—such as guilt, anxiety, and shame—are explored to illuminate their significance within the broader field of psychoanalysis.

Intended learning outcomes:

Students will apply the knowledge gained in the course to produce an academic piece that may serve as a draft for a dissertation chapter or a research article.

Learning and teaching methods:

Types of learning/teaching:

• Frontal teaching
• Independent students work
• e-learning

Teaching methods:

• Explanation
• Conversation/discussion/debate
• Work with texts

Assessment:

• Long written assignments 80 %,
• Final examination (written/oral) 20 %.