A Critique of Neurological Reductionism in Malabou's General Theory of Trauma: The Persistence of the Symbolic in Sociopolitical Traumas
PDF (Español (España))
HTML (Español (España))

Keywords

Plasticidad
Cerebralidad
Trauma
Campo simbólico
Reconocimiento Plasticity
Cerebrality
Trauma
symbolic field
acknowledgment

How to Cite

Cabrera Sánchez, J. “A Critique of Neurological Reductionism in Malabou’s General Theory of Trauma: The Persistence of the Symbolic in Sociopolitical Traumas”. Revista De Humanidades (Santiago. En línea), no. 49, Jan. 2024, pp. 369-95, doi:10.53382/issn.2452-445X.785.

Abstract

This text criticizes the general theory on trauma proposed by the philosopher Catherine Malabou in texts such as The new wounded: from neurosis to brain damage and Ontology of the accident: an essay on destructive plasticity. In our opinion, what Malabou qualifies as a general theory of trauma is rather a generic theory of trauma, its failure being rooted in the generalization of the paradigm of cerebrality to all forms of trauma. We will try to show that the symbolic silence of the post-traumatic subject in sociopolitical traumas does not rest solely on the material foundation offered by cerebrality, but rather depends on a collapse of the meaning structures that characterize sociopolitical traumas, a collapse of the meaning that must be thought within the frames of history, the unfolding of political antagonism and the intertwined paths of recognition.

https://doi.org/10.53382/issn.2452-445X.785
PDF (Español (España))
HTML (Español (España))

References

Butler, Judith. Dar cuenta de sí mismo. Violencia ética y responsabilidad. Traducido por Horacio Pons. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu, 2009.

Carrion, Victor y Shane Wong. “Can traumatic stress alter the brain? Understanding the implications of early trauma on brain development and learning”. The Journal of adolescent health, N°51 (2), 2012, pp. 23–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.04.010

Dalton, Benjamin. “What should we do with plasticity? An interview with catherine malabou”. Paragraph, N° 42 (2), 2019, pp. 238-254.

Davis, Colin. Traces of War: Interpreting Ethics and Trauma in Twentieth-Century French Writing. Liverpool University Press, 2018.

De Vos, Jean. The metamorphoses of the brain: neurologisation and its discontents. Londres: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

Felman, Shoshana. “The return of the voice: Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah”. Testimony: crises of witnessing in literature, psychoanalysis and history. New York: Routledge, 1992, pp. 204-283.

Freud, Sigmund. “Pulsiones y destinos de pulsion”. Obras completas, vol. 14. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu, 1992, pp. 105-134.

Freud, Sigmund. “Más allá del principio de placer”. Obras completas, vol. 18. Buenos Aires: Amorrortu, 1992, pp. 1-62.

Johnston, Adrian y Catherine Malabou. Self and emotional life: philosophy, psychoanalysis and neuroscience. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.

Laplanche, Jean. Essays on otherness. Londres: Routledge, 1999.

Laplanche, Jean. Vida y muerte en psicoanálisis. Traducido por Matilde Horne. Argentina: Amorrortu, 2001.

Laub, Dori. “An event without a witness: truth, testimony and survival” Testimony: crises of witnessing in literature, psychoanalysis and history. New York: Routledge, 1992, pp. 75-92.

Laub, Dori. “Reestablishing the internal "Thou" in testimony of trauma”. Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, N°18(2), 2013, pp. 184–198. https://doi.org/10.1057/pcs.2013.1

Levi, Primo. Entrevistas y Conversaciones. Barcelona: Ediciones Península, 1998.

Leys, Ruth. “Post-psychoanalysis and post-totalitarianism”. Psychoanalysis in the Age of Totalitarianism. New York: Routledge, 2016, pp. 239-251.

Malabou, Catherine. The future of Hegel: plasticity, temporality, and dialectic. New York: Routledge, 2005.

Malabou, Catherine. What should we do with our brain? New York: Fordham University Press, 2008.

Malabou, Catherine. La plasticidad en espera. Santiago de Chile: Palinodia, 2010.

Malabou, Catherine. Neuroliterature. Umbr(a): A Journal of the Unconscious, New York, 2010, pp.117–126.

Malabou, Catherine. Plasticity at the dusk of writing: dialectic, destruction, deconstruction. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.

Malabou, Catherine. The Heidegger change: on the fantastic in philosophy. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011.

Malabou, Catherine. The new wounded: from neurosis to brain damage. Nueva York: Fordham University Press, 2012.

Malabou, Catherine. Ontology of the accident: an essay on destructive plasticity. Gran Bretaña: Polity, 2012.

Malabou, Catherine. “Post-trauma. Towards a new definition?” Telemorphosis: Theory in the era of climate change. Michigan: Open Humanities Press, 2012, pp. 226–238.

Martínez i Cuadras, Albert. “El concepto de “plasticidad” en las primeras obras de Catherine Malabou”. Tópicos, Revista de Filosofía, N° 65, 2023, pp. 89-111.

Stavrakakis, Yannis. Lacan y lo político. Buenos Aires: Prometeo Libros, 2007.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2024 Revista de humanidades (Santiago. En línea)

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...