Critical theory and psychoanalysis: theoretical subsidies for the cultural critique of today's training

Abstract

Several academics and commentators have highlighted the influence of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory on the intellectual production of the first generation of the Frankfurt Institut für Sozialforchung researchers, especially on the ideas of Theodor W. Adorno. But when we review the debates between the two theoretical schools, that is, between a critical social theory and the other theory created from clinical treatment case studies, some topics remain unclear. These topics are the ones related to a more precise understanding of the sublimation processes in the aesthetical experience, the ones related to the concept of masochism which is itself originated in the acquisition of the products offered to individuals exposed to a variety of consumption items by the cultural industry, and the topics related to the unconscious contents, according to the Aufklärung program. In our days, the clear explanation of these obscure topics, which are the result of a particular appropriation of Psychoanalysis as understood by this first generation of researchers of the Frankfurt Institut für Sozialforchung, seems to have a double relevance: - to protect the autonomy of the distinct areas of the intellectual production (socio-cultural critic and psychoanalytic clinic) and to confirm several concepts and notions needed to give meaning to the abundant contemporary cultural phenomena of our days, thus allowing for an effective education of the varied sectors of the Brazilian population. With that in mind, I propose a study based on a bibliographical selection of the authors above mentioned with the participation of Dr. Mateu Cabo, Professor at the Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres of the Universität des les Illes Balears - UIB, Palma de Mallorca and a member of the Grup de Recerca Corrents Crítiques del Pensament Contemporani - CRIPCON, and a selection of texts which I have written since 2000 which study some of the main problems here identified, that is, the need to explain and clarify some of the obscure topics of confluence between the Critical Theory of Society and the Psychoanalytic Theory of S. Freud. (AU)