Freud and Nietzsche on sublimation

Journal of Nietzsche Studies 38 (1):38-59 (2009)
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Abstract

The notion of sublimation is essential to Nietzsche and Freud. However, Freud's writings fail to provide a persuasive notion of sublimation. In particular, Freud's writings are confused on the distinction between pathological symptoms and sublimation and on the relation between sublimation and repression. After rehearsing these problems in some detail, it is proposed that a return to Nietzsche allows for a more coherent account of sublimation, its difference from pathological symptoms, and its relation to repression. In summary, on Nietzsche's account, while repression and pathological symptoms involve a disintegration , sublimation involves integration. The article concludes with a brief consideration of some post-Freudian accounts of sublimation that represent a return to a more Nietzschean approach

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Ken Gemes
Birkbeck College

Citations of this work

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References found in this work

Nietzsche on ressentiment and valuation.Bernard Reginster - 1997 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 57 (2):281-305.
Nietzsche on Ressentiment and Valuation.Bernard Reginster - 1997 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 57 (2):281-305.
Irrationality and the Philosophy of Psychoanalysis.John Cottingham - 1996 - Philosophical Quarterly 46 (185):544-546.

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