Narcissism

Summary

Dominique Pagani first approaches narcissism through an image: the swan contemplating itself in the mirror of the waters figures a purity that refuses the ordeal of blood and eros1. He links this to the idea that a system closed in on itself is doomed, since living consists in entering into relation with the outside2. He takes up the Freudian notion of primary narcissism: the newborn, in distress, has only its own body as a source of pleasure before any object libido3. Desire that fails in the world flows back towards the ego and destroys it, which in his view accounts for depression and for the success of personal development4. Later, he locates the core of narcissism in the ideal ego, which is shattered by the recognition that the subject is split5. He then treats it as a force of self-"misknowing": the refusal to follow one's memories through to the end in order to preserve a good self-image, perhaps a figure of absolute evil, and the opposite of depression6. This narcissism is most often collective and bound to a society's values; the self-image involved is deceptive7.

1. 1#6 Harnessed to confinitude26 Apr 2020 · 38:15
2. 2#11 Return to the logics of the subject21 Jun 2020 · 56:19
3. 3#10.7 “Postmodern” eco-petty-Nazism: Plato's Gorgias23 Dec 2021 · 1:25:50
4. 4#10.7 “Postmodern” eco-petty-Nazism: Plato's Gorgias23 Dec 2021 · 1:30:05
5. 5“I is another”, or contradictory identity12 Dec 2023 · 1:47:28
6. 6The eternal return… of the death camps?13 Oct 2024 · 56:40
7. 7Evil, or the “unknowing” of the self2 Dec 2024 · 59:55

Summary produced automatically from 8 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.