Additional Blog #2

The genealogy of subjectivity refers to examining the different theories of subjectivity. Mansfield uses this term to analyze many theories of the subject, focusing on the theory as the subject. Genealogy is most often paired with tracing history of families. In the same sense, this idea traces the history of ideas of subjectivity.

Freud was the creator of the psychoanalytic theory of subjectivity which was based on his notion of the unconscious. The unconscious mind drives the conscious, the irrational and rational. We try to repress these thoughts in the unconscious, but they sometimes come out through certain behaviors, habits and dreams. The subject is a construct of relationships. The subject is also produced through a child’s relationship with their parents during the Oedipal Complex. Many other theories of subjectivity use Freud’s idea of psychoanalysis.

Lacan used Freud’s model of psychoanalysis to form his theory of language and subjectivity. We are subjects in the world of language. The biggest difference between Lacan and Freud is that Freud focuses more on the biology of a person, while Lacan focuses on the language and symbolic concepts. In Frued’s model, the subject develops through the Oedipal Complex, but in Lacan’s it is during the mirror-stage. The subject is always trying to become stable even though it never achieves complete stability. These are our desires and demands to get back to the “real”.

Another theory that has developed from psychoanalysis is Kristeva’s model of abjection. Kristeva uses ideas from both Freud and Lacan. She also believes that there is an area between the unconscious and conscious that creates our subjectivity. What sets Kristeva apart from the Freud and Lacan is that she focuses on the unknown and unstable, where they focus on the stabilization of the subject. This incomplete area of horror between the self and the other is what Kristeva considers to be abjection.

Irigaray has a modern feminist theory of psychoanalytic subjectivity that opposes Freud and Lacan’s theories of the dominate male by adding the female imaginary. This idea is also based on the genitals, except this time it is the female. It represents the diverse and complex women, as opposed to the simple and stable male.