This conversation, held in Rome on June 7, 1997, deals only marginally with psychoanalysis. Yet, as in our previously published interviews with philosophers, it situates Rorty’s appreciation of psychoanalysis in its philosophical context.

This conversation, held in Rome on June 7, 1997, deals only marginally with psychoanalysis. Yet, as in our previously published interviews with philosophers, it situates Rorty’s appreciation of psychoanalysis in its philosophical context.

A Conversation between Sergio Benvenuto and Paul Laurent Assoun

A general outline of the history of psychoanalysis in Argentina and its impact upon Argentinean culture is presented. After some introductory steps taken by local psychiatrists and immigrants who had completed their training in Europe, the Argentinean Psychoanalytic Association was founded. The influence of Kleinism theoretically on contributions by leading figures is developed; a certain limiting, restrictive dogmatism is commented on, also as the basis for the overall enthusiastic reception with which Lacan's ideas were subsequently met, and further developed, by members of the several Lacanian Associations not belonging to the IPA. And, in the public sphere, the essential role of psychoanalysts in public hospitals and community centers in sustaining subjectivity in those very places where technology overwhelmingly threatens it, is presented.

This article examines the situation of psychoanalysis in the universities of Argentina since the return of democracy in 1983. A brief reference is made to the process of normalization of the national higher education system which began in 1984 and its influence on the curricula of undergraduate studies.