Jorge Alemán is a psychoanalyst, member of the Spanish Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis and of the World Association of Psychoanalysis. Born in Buenos Aires, he has lived and worked in Madrid since 1976. Founding member of “Cruce”, Foundation for the study of Art and Psychoanalysis. His books include: Lacan-El campo del Goce (Buenos Aires: Miguel Gómez Editores), Lacan-Heid…

Starting from Varela’s epistemological reflections, the author attempts to review, in short fragments, the history of the concept of autonomy. After a brief reference to the Ancient Greeks, the author’s attention focuses on the tension between will and desire that characterized the concept of autonomy in Rousseau and Kant. After briefly considering Kant’s image of the baby-walker, the investigation moves to Hegel and his master/slave dialectic and, on the basis of reflections by Jessica Benjamin, to Winnicott and his idea of a child’s autonomization in his relation to the mother. Via a brief comparison between Winnicott’s concept of third area and Bateson’s idea of frame, the author signals out Winnicott’s reflection as a decisive moment for the idea of autonomy in relations. The goal of this attempt consists in putting forward an idea of autonomy capable of cohabiting with the concept of relation without opposing it, and that may at the same time satisfy certain requirements set by research like Francisco Varela’s.

December, 2001. Several weeks ago, in their front pages, newspapers began to publish daily a new thermometrical measurement, unknown hitherto: the riesgo pa’s (investment risk), steadily growing and reaching apparently unheard-of high(est) figures.

The development of psychoanalytic Liaison "this side of the ocean" is presented. Two fundamental events set it in motion: the beginning of psychoanalytic practice in Argentina, and the creation of Psychopathology Departments at General Hospitals (the endeavor carried out by Mauricio Goldemberg). A description of the initial experience (by Juan J. Criscaut at the Policlínico Lanús follows, and, subsequently, that of Ferrari and Luchina at the Hospital Ferroviario)--together with a critical examination of the book issued by the latter. After the violent rupture and the decay of Public Hospitals as a result of the attack on Public Health carried out by the military coup, the ensuing developments are tracked reading through the published papers: on the one hand, the theoretic renewal that, by means of Lacan's teaching, allows the development of a new psychoanalytic practice, and symptomatic oblivion of the former analytic work on the other. The difficult access to the texts does not contribute to a sound retrieval of analytic heritage, nor does it allow an extensive working through the Liaison field, which seems to start anew with each published article. New Journals gathering the experience at Public Hospitals may allow other expectations, becoming discussion forums with better stability perspectives.

The publication of Freud's APHASIA entry in the Diagnostic Lexicon for Practicing Physicians (Diagnostische Lexikon für praktische Ärtze) is published here for the first time in an English translation as part of my larger project of assembling bi-lingual texts of all of Freud's writings on the topic of aphasia. To quickly review the titles and publication dates of these texts, I offer the following list: 1888 Aphasie, in Villaret, Albert: Handwörterbuch der gesamten Medizin, Bd. I, Stuttgart, l888, S. 88-90. l891 Zur Auffassung der Aphasien, Leipzig und Wien, Franz Deuticke, 1891. 1893-94 Aphasie, in Diagnostische Lexikon für praktische Ärtze, edited by Bum, Anton and Moritz T. Schnirer, Erster Band, Wien und Leipzig, Urban & Schwarzenberg, l893.[this article] l897 Inhaltsangaben der wissenschaftlicher Arbeiten der Privat- dozenten Dr. Sigm. Freud (l877-l897) Wien, l897. G.W. Bd. I, S. 472-473. (Freud's abstract of his l891 book)

This work, after doing justice to some Freudian errors, aims to demonstrate the continuity of Freud's scientific work ranging from neuropathology to psychoanalysis. What links the diverse Freudian scientific activities is the concept of variability, something Freud shares with Darwin, perhaps as a re-proposition of the Cartesian notion of res extensa. Such variability should be understood in a concrete sense as a variability of in the first place biological, and later linguistic, features.

The aim of this paper is to provide some insights on the discussion about the possibility of a joint-venture between psychoanalysis and neuroscience Our perspective defines a dynamic relationship between psychoanalysis and neuroscience. Indeed, the cultural and technological changes that have occurred in the two domains, mainly related to new concepts of brain-mind system functioning and to the development of neuroimaging techniques, constitute the basic premise for renewed interest in common research. Some important contributions to explain issues of mutual interest can be found in the study of affective regulation and the memory system, particularly of implicit memory processes. For example, the recent observations on the dynamic functioning of the neural system underlying the organization of the emotional experience are very useful for explaining some issues of the object-relation theory. Studies will suggest the possibility of constructing a research paradigm combining the richness of the psychoanalytic model with the reliability of the neuropsychological method

What are we up to? In this book we seek the sources and means for a disciplined practical approach to exploring human experience. Since that's already quite a program, please be patient while we explain what we mean.

In this text the author reviews the recent history of the preoccupation with the study of consciousness within the field of the cognitive sciences. A general categorization of approaches is provided, running from the neuro-reductionist or objectivist positions to those that leave an explicit place for subjective accounts in the study of conscious experience. Positioning himself in this latter category, the author defines the task of neurophenomenology as the exploration of the modes of circulation between first- and third-person accounts of experience.

This essay considers some of the key concepts in the work of Francisco Varela and of some of his commentators. The author draws on a personal experience in the course of the essay that embodies particular cognitive and affective emergences. The account of the “private” experience becomes the link by which the formulation of certain theoretic terms becomes part of the co-evolutionary fabric of intersubjectivity.

Beginning with a discussion of Freud's reclassification of homosexuality in terms of sexual choice rather than degeneracy, the author traces the changes in attitudes towards homosexuals and homosexuality within psychoanalytic institutions: from their official exclusion from the IPA in 1921, to their "outing" at the Barcelona Congress in 1997. The author also considers the accusations of homophobia made against Lacan, arguing that his portrayal as a reactionary defender of traditional patriarchy is based on a misreading of his texts. While Lacan considered homosexuality a perversion, he saw it as part of a universal structure of personality; indeed, Lacan saw homosexual love as the prototype of love. The author thinks the homophobia that still characterizes the psychoanalytic community today is a reaction, not to homosexuals' "perverse" desire, but to their desire for "normalization", seen by many as an attempt to "homosexualize" society, much like the emancipation of women was once seen as a threat to feminize society by undermining the paternal figure. The transformation of homosexuality presents new challenges to psychoanalysis.