The Failed Assassination of Psychoanalysis: The Rise and Fall of Cognitivism

187 Pages·2015·0.89 MB·English

by  Agnès Aflalo

THE FAILED ASSASSINATION
OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

THE FAILED
ASSASSINATION
OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
The Rise and Fall of Cognitivism
Agnès Aflalo
Translation from French by A. R. Price
Originally published in French in 2009 as L’Assassinat manqué de la psychanalyse
by Éditions Cécile Defaut
First published in English in 2015 by
Karnac Books Ltd
118 Finchley Road
London NW3 5HT
Copyright © 2015 by Agnès Aflalo
The right of Agnès Aflalo to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with §§ 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design and Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A C.I.P. for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN-13: 978-1-78220-164-9
Typeset by V Publishing Solutions Pvt Ltd., Chennai, India
Printed in Great Britain
www.karnacbooks.com
In memory of Jacques Lacan

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix
ABOUT THE AUTHOR xi
PREFACE xiii
Bernard-Henri Lévy
CHAPTER ONE
The Amendment 1
CHAPTER TWO
Procrustes and the river of sludge I 19
CHAPTER THREE
Procrustes and the river of sludge II 35
CHAPTER FOUR
Cognitive-behavioural calculation 57
vii
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER FIVE
Discipline and banish 81
CHAPTER SIX
Bioreligion 103
CHAPTER SEVEN
The commodification of knowledges 119
A FEW WORDS OF CONCLUSION 129
APPENDIX I
The new Amendment 131
APPENDIX II
“Scientifically” discrediting psychoanalysis and
attacking civil liberties 135
NOTES 143
REFERENCES 149
INDEX 157
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks to Sylvie Lévy for her constant encouragement; to Anaëlle
Lebovits for her critical reading; to Dan Arbib, Deborah Gutermann,
Frédérique Bravin, Joachim Lebovits, Caroline Pauthe-Leduc, and
Martin Quenehen for their attentive re-reading; to professor Emmanuel
Lozerand whose remarks allowed me to add further precision to some
points concerning Japan; and to François Ansermet for having included
the French edition of this book in his collection at Éditions Cécile
Defaut.
Lastly, Jacques-Alain Miller’s Lacanian Orientation course played a
decisive role in the desire to write this book. May he find testimony of
my recognition herein.
ix