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Remains of a Self

Solitude in the Aftermath of Psychoanalysis and Deconstruction

Cathrine Bjørnholt Michaelsen

From the twentieth century in the twenty-first, psychoanalysis and deconstruction have challenged, and continue to challenge, our conceptions of subjectivity and selfhood. Psychoanalysis revealed that even in our innermost households we are never quite alone; rather, instances of “otherness” incessantly interfere in our most intimate relation to ourselves, forcing us to adapt continuously. Deconstruction, inheriting both this psychoanalytic disclosure and Heidegger’s destruction of the history of metaphysics, went to the foundations of the Western constructions of “the subject” and “the self,” only to find how a destabilizing otherness was always already haunting them. What, if anything, remains of the self in the aftermath?

Early on in the wake of deconstruction, a certain misconceived and simplified notion of the “death of the subject” was proclaimed and in recent years more or less successful attempts have been made at reviving the notions of “the subject,” “the self,” and “agency.” In contrast to these attempts at revival, this book offers a two-pronged approach: On the one hand, it argues that neither psychoanalysis nor deconstruction propounds a simple annihilation of the subject or liquidation of the self; on the other hand, however, neither do they pave the way for a “return to the subject” or “resurrection of the self” that would allow us once again to become confident about our presence to ourselves. Instead, this book suggests that if we set ourselves the task of taking up the heritage from psychoanalysis and deconstruction in a serious manner, we are obliged to retrace the subject and the self as undergoing perpetual auto-deconstruction.
  • Details
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  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International
Pages: 324 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9
978-1-5381-5335-2 • Hardback • June 2021 • $128.00 • (£98.00)
978-1-5381-5336-9 • eBook • June 2021 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
Series: Philosophical Projections
Subjects: Philosophy / Movements / Deconstruction, Psychology / Movements / Psychoanalysis, Philosophy / Movements / Phenomenology

Cathrine Bjørnholt Michaelsen is assistant professor in the Department for Management, Politics and Philosophy at Copenhagen Business School.

Introduction

Chapter One:The Solitude of not being able to be Alone

Chapter Two:The Solitude of Dependency

Chapter Three: The Solitude of Boredom

Chapter Four: The Solitude of the Impersonal

Chapter Five: The Solitude of Unhomeliness

Chapter Six: The Solitude of Dissolution

Bibliography

Index

Deconstruction and psychoanalysis have long since dismissed the philosophical subject’s claims to mastery. If so, after the subject, what remains? In this brilliantly conceived and meticulously argued book, bearing on the thought of Derrida, Artaud, Lacan, Heidegger, Nancy, and numerous others, Cathrine Bjørnholt Michaelsen explores with incisive authority the far-reaching ramifications of this question as it traverses philosophy, literature, experience itself.


— Leslie Hill, Emeritus Professor of French Studies, University of Warwick


Referring to an impressive array of thinkers from Heidegger to Hölderlin, Derrida, Nancy, Artaud, Blanchot, Freud, Lacan, Deleuze and Guattari, this remarkable, highly original study traces the ‘remains’ of a self that has lost itself. A superb exploration of impossible solitude, the inability to be alone, results in the discovery of relations upon which our responsibility and sense of self depend.


— Claudia Welz, professor of ethics and philosophy of religion, Aarhus University


With a brilliant array of sources ranging across philosophy, psychology, literature, and poetry, Cathrine Bjørnholt Michaelsen reaches into her deep depository and with an acute interpretative acumen deconstructs “self” through the prevailing question of “Who asks the question who?” Not only does this book challenge views on the self, but readers are also left with “the what or who” that remains in the abandonment of “the” subject and “the” self—a development, we find, that has already begun to find its place in our experience, giving new meaning to solitude.


— David Jones, editor of Comparative and Continental Philosophy and co-author of The Fractal Self: Science, Philosophy, and the Evolution of Human Cooperation


Remains of a Self

Solitude in the Aftermath of Psychoanalysis and Deconstruction

Cover Image
Hardback
eBook
Summary
Summary
  • From the twentieth century in the twenty-first, psychoanalysis and deconstruction have challenged, and continue to challenge, our conceptions of subjectivity and selfhood. Psychoanalysis revealed that even in our innermost households we are never quite alone; rather, instances of “otherness” incessantly interfere in our most intimate relation to ourselves, forcing us to adapt continuously. Deconstruction, inheriting both this psychoanalytic disclosure and Heidegger’s destruction of the history of metaphysics, went to the foundations of the Western constructions of “the subject” and “the self,” only to find how a destabilizing otherness was always already haunting them. What, if anything, remains of the self in the aftermath?

    Early on in the wake of deconstruction, a certain misconceived and simplified notion of the “death of the subject” was proclaimed and in recent years more or less successful attempts have been made at reviving the notions of “the subject,” “the self,” and “agency.” In contrast to these attempts at revival, this book offers a two-pronged approach: On the one hand, it argues that neither psychoanalysis nor deconstruction propounds a simple annihilation of the subject or liquidation of the self; on the other hand, however, neither do they pave the way for a “return to the subject” or “resurrection of the self” that would allow us once again to become confident about our presence to ourselves. Instead, this book suggests that if we set ourselves the task of taking up the heritage from psychoanalysis and deconstruction in a serious manner, we are obliged to retrace the subject and the self as undergoing perpetual auto-deconstruction.
Details
Details
  • Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International
    Pages: 324 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9
    978-1-5381-5335-2 • Hardback • June 2021 • $128.00 • (£98.00)
    978-1-5381-5336-9 • eBook • June 2021 • $45.00 • (£35.00)
    Series: Philosophical Projections
    Subjects: Philosophy / Movements / Deconstruction, Psychology / Movements / Psychoanalysis, Philosophy / Movements / Phenomenology
Author
Author
  • Cathrine Bjørnholt Michaelsen is assistant professor in the Department for Management, Politics and Philosophy at Copenhagen Business School.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Introduction

    Chapter One:The Solitude of not being able to be Alone

    Chapter Two:The Solitude of Dependency

    Chapter Three: The Solitude of Boredom

    Chapter Four: The Solitude of the Impersonal

    Chapter Five: The Solitude of Unhomeliness

    Chapter Six: The Solitude of Dissolution

    Bibliography

    Index
Reviews
Reviews
  • Deconstruction and psychoanalysis have long since dismissed the philosophical subject’s claims to mastery. If so, after the subject, what remains? In this brilliantly conceived and meticulously argued book, bearing on the thought of Derrida, Artaud, Lacan, Heidegger, Nancy, and numerous others, Cathrine Bjørnholt Michaelsen explores with incisive authority the far-reaching ramifications of this question as it traverses philosophy, literature, experience itself.


    — Leslie Hill, Emeritus Professor of French Studies, University of Warwick


    Referring to an impressive array of thinkers from Heidegger to Hölderlin, Derrida, Nancy, Artaud, Blanchot, Freud, Lacan, Deleuze and Guattari, this remarkable, highly original study traces the ‘remains’ of a self that has lost itself. A superb exploration of impossible solitude, the inability to be alone, results in the discovery of relations upon which our responsibility and sense of self depend.


    — Claudia Welz, professor of ethics and philosophy of religion, Aarhus University


    With a brilliant array of sources ranging across philosophy, psychology, literature, and poetry, Cathrine Bjørnholt Michaelsen reaches into her deep depository and with an acute interpretative acumen deconstructs “self” through the prevailing question of “Who asks the question who?” Not only does this book challenge views on the self, but readers are also left with “the what or who” that remains in the abandonment of “the” subject and “the” self—a development, we find, that has already begun to find its place in our experience, giving new meaning to solitude.


    — David Jones, editor of Comparative and Continental Philosophy and co-author of The Fractal Self: Science, Philosophy, and the Evolution of Human Cooperation


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