Hermeneutics and Psychoanalysis: Freud, Ricoeur, and the Task of Interpretation 3700-AL-HP-OG

Ricoeur’s hermeneutics as “the art of deciphering indirect meaning,” originates and culminates in the thesis that human existence is itself a mode of interpretation. He discovers the semantic potential of the indirect language characteristic of mythical/symbolic discourse. He develops a mode of interpretation for the empirical and descriptive analysis of symbols and myths, which is the indirect way to understand oneself. Thinking from the symbol is the path to understanding. There is no self-understanding possible without mediation through signs, symbols, narratives, and texts, which are cultural media that require our interpretation to understand their meanings. The notion of interpretation/understanding is perceived as work in the sense of working through (Durcharbeiten). With reference to Freud, working through refers to a task of understanding/translating as appropriating alien meanings as one’s own. Ricoeur’s hermeneutics of appropriation through the analogical relation of oneself as an other is the lingual “medium through which we understand ourselves.

In The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud’s analysis of dream reports aims not to achieve the correct interpretation of particular dreams but to uncover the hidden dimensions of human speech and thus elaborate a genuine notion of interpretation. Freud’s theory of interpretation expresses his suspicion about deciphering the dream reports. The distorted language of dream reports covers the material repressed by the unconscious. The task of the patient is to disclose with the help of the analyst what is hidden from the conscious mind. However, according to Freud, the language of the unconscious programmatically hides the truth about the self. The psychoanalyst’s attempt to uncover what intentionally wishes to remain hidden is a violation of the language of the unconscious.

Rodzaj przedmiotu

ogólnouniwersyteckie

Założenia (opisowo)

Fluency in English (B2)

Koordynatorzy przedmiotu

Andrzej Wierciński

Efekty kształcenia

Learning outcomes
Knowledge:
o student is familiar with the literature as indicated in the bibliography
o is familiar with philosophical hermeneutics and hermeneutic philosophy
o knows the state of research in literary studies and is able to design an innovative research project
Skills:
o can identify philosophical aspects of the task of thinking
o can address the importance of feelings (curiosity, patience, courage, uncertainty, self-esteem) and validates them in the process of learning
o can effectively communicate with other scholars in philosophy and liberal arts
o a creative and insightful student shows depth in thinking of and elaborating on original and novel ideas
Social competences:
o appreciates the need to learn to understand one’s life
o can set measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely goals and ways to achieve them in the context of academic, professional, and social activity
o sees the need for a dialogue between different academic disciplines and schools of thought

Kryteria oceniania

Students must attend classes, actively participate in discussions, and present a project related to the course. Students should clear their topic with the instructor. The grade will be based on the project 50%. Attendance/Active in-class participation (50%). Students are required to submit a detailed report about their attendance and self-evaluation of their activity in the class.

Literatura

Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation Of Dreams, trans. Joyce Crick, with an intro. and notes by Ritchie Robertson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
Sigmund Freud, “Remembering, Repeating, and Working-Through,” in idem, The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, trans. James Strachey et al., vol. 12 (London: Hogarth Press, 1953-1974), 147-156.
Paul Ricoeur, Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences, ed. John B. Thompson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981),
Paul Ricoeur, Freud and Philosophy: An Essay On Interpretation, trans. Denis Savage (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1970).
Andrzej Wierciński, Existentia Hermeneutica: Understanding as the Mode of Being (Zurich: LIT, 2019).
Andrzej Wierciński, “Questioning the Limits of Interpretation: The Intrinsic Challenges to Hermeneutics and Psychoanalysis,” in Hermann Lang, Pawel Dybel, and Gerda Pagel, ed., Grenzen der Interpretation in Hermeneutik und Psychoanalyse (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2014), 295-315.
Andrzej Wierciński, “Melancholia, Depression, Sadness: The Disease of the Soul and the Imperative of the Care for the Soul,” in Dariusz Skórczewski and Andrzej Wierciński, ed., Melancholia: The Disease of the Soul (Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL, 2014), 235-266.

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