The Eternal Jouissance of the Community
Phantasm, Imagination, and 'Natural Man' in Hobbes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15030903 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Joanne Faulkner (0000-0001-5694-181X, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Publication date | 2009-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Theory & Event (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1092-311X • E-ISSN: 2572-6633 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/tae.0.0077 |
| OpenAlex | W2032229931 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
The paper considers the part of Thomas Hobbes's 'natural man' in the construction of a culturally shared fantasy regarding pre-social humanity (conceived of as outside obligation), and the marginalization of 'excluded' citizens who are seen in various ways to approximate that fantasy. While Hobbes did not valorize his hypothetical 'natural man,' I argue that his particularly dark elaboration of it lent an ambivalence to this ideal, which thereby enables it to function as a fantasy. With the aid of psychoanalytic theory, the paper explores the relation of Hobbes's psychology of perception to his political philosophy; with particular attention to the resonances between Hobbes's account of the imagination and emotion, and the psychoanalytic notion of fantasy. The fantasy of the pre-contract natural man is then drawn upon to illustrate some concrete social relations which marginalize certain kinds of subject, understood as both 'innocent' and a threat to the community
Art · Depiction · Epistemology · Fantasy · Humanity · Literature · Natural (archaeology · Natural law · Political science · Politics · Social contract · Sociology · Theology · History · Law · Philosophy · Political Theology and Sovereignty · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
Écrits
The Lacanian Subject
Enlightenment and Action from Descartes to Kant
Leibniz and the English-Speaking World
Civilization and Its Discontents
The Sexual Contract
Antigone's Ghost
Laclos and Women's Education
Purity and Danger
Thomas Hobbes's Materialism, Language, and the Possibility of Politics
The Benefits of Reasonable Conduct
The Subject of Citizenship
| Highly cited | No |
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