1st Edition

The Essential Being Psychoanalytic Understanding of Totalitarianism

    194 Pages
    by Routledge

    194 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book explores the concept of "pre-conceptual trauma", drawing in particular on the pioneering research of Wilfred Bion. A comparison is established between two different groups of individuals: five well-known dictators and five famous creative individuals. The authors have defined "pre-conceptual traumas" as ubiquitous experiences that all human beings go through during the first years of their lives, when a temporary absence changes into a permanent presence, determining the outcome of what any individual might do or perform in the future. Pre-conceptual traumas split the mind into two dialectical and correlated states: the "traumatized" (conflictive or pathological), and the "non-traumatized (developmental or normal).

    Preface -- Introduction -- Pre-conceptual traumas as a determinant factor in the individual's personality -- Dictators' early traumas -- Communism as a form of psychopathology -- Capitalism: another form of psychopathology -- The acolytes -- Sycophants and socialist romantics -- The claustrum -- Unconditionality, essentiality, and revengeful hope -- Hitler -- Stalin -- Mao -- Castro -- Hussein -- Beethoven -- Freud -- Einstein -- Gandhi -- Picasso -- General consideration

    Biography

    E. Lopez-Corvo, Rafael