Contribution to the panel “Metapsychology and contemporary subjectivities”

Abstract

The term psychoanalysis had already been used by Freud in 1896. The "analysis" in psychoanalysis comes from chemistry. Chemical analysis breaks down and studies the constituent elements of a given material. Psychoanalysis proposed a similar movement to study psychic phenomena. It was a chemistry that gradually differentiated itself from alchemy, especially in the second half of the 18th century. The history of chemistry records contributions from several figures. Among them, Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (1743-1794) stands out. Chemistry experienced significant development throughout the 19th century, both in knowledge and prestige.
As for the "psi" of psychoanalysis, it should be noted that a cultural movement that valued feelings originated in the second half of the 18th century, a movement that became hegemonic in the first half of the 19th century: Romanticism. Brought to the center of attention, feelings were present in everyone, regardless of their place in the social hierarchy, in contrast to the heroes of classical literature, who were figures of a superior quality, figures whose virtues went far beyond those of the common person. [...]