The status of phantasy in the Freudian theoretical corpus

Abstract

It is a consensus among several authors that Freud's so-called "abandonment of seduction theory" in 1897 was a fundamental turning point for the establishment of nascent discipline, psychoanalysis. It was then that Freud theorized the stories of his patients not as memories but as fantasies. Since then, the concept of fantasy has gained an enormous importance in Freudian psychoanalytic theory because they not only serve as a backdrop for the fabrication of memories but represent a true pathway for the satisfaction of desire independent of the principle of reality as well as put the neurotic symptoms forward. In addition to the individual fantasies Freud refers to a special class of fantasies, the original fantasies (Urphantasien), transmitted throughout the phylogenesis. In this way, it is seen that the concept of fantasy not only raised great importance in Freudian theory, but also established the most diverse connections with other important concepts. The fantasy, as Laplanche and Pontalis say, appears from end to end in the psychic apparatus: from a universal nucleus of the unconscious to its most superficial layer (consciousness), in the form of conscious daydreaming’s filled with desires, passing through unconscious fantasies which lie at the origin of symptoms. The main objective of this study is to verify the epistemological status of the concept of fantasy in the Freudian theoretical corpus, with the specific objectives of analyzing the relationship between this concept and others (memory, desire, symptom, unconscious). (AU)