by Philip Boxer BSc MBA PhD I am writing this blog to clarify the implications of the distinction between the small-s symbolic and the big-S Symbolic which is present in a number of previous blogs: Difficulties…
by Philip Boxer BSc MBA PhD Yiannis Gabriel has written a paper on psychoanalysis and organisation studies.[1] He usefully distinguishes two epochs: A first epoch, defined by the practice of clinicians ‘psychoanalysing organisations’ through the metaphor…
by Philip Boxer BSc MBA PhD A colleague of mine, Larry Hirschhorn, had the following to say about his experience of the difficulties of ISPSO members speaking to each other about their differing readings of…
by Philip Boxer BSc MBA PhD The plus-one process starts with the narrating of an originating situation[1], taken by the speaker to present some kind of challenge. The process generates three metaphors that point towards…
by Philip Boxer Lacan returns to Freud’s 4-part structure of the drive: a gap[1] – an experienced edge or limit to being able to give meaning; an object[2] – some structuring of behavior that is related…
The following exchange between Simon and Mike shows us something of the difficulty of translating between Kleinian and Lacanian readings: Simon: Thanks Mike for thought provoking quotes about the Czech Pavilion Quote on illusions.[1] Freeing…
There has been a thread running on the ISPSO listserve, triggered originally by the recent tragic events at Charlie in Paris. I have found this ISPSO thread impossible to read as a dialogue, now with…
The previous blog on What makes an economy a ‘libidinal economy’? spoke of the libidinal economy of a network as “a form of social organization that supported forms of emancipation that promised not a ‘full…
The concept of ‘libidinal investment’ has come up before, for example in The Promoted Sibling as an expression of libidinal investment, or in Getting caught ‘inside’ particular forms of Thirdness as an effect of unconscious…
Affordable healthcare is a right of each citizen, not a privilege for those who can afford it. The quote refers to the intent behind President Obama’s 2010 signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The…