Based on "Words": psychoanalysis of autobiography

Psychoanalysis and philosophy

Abstract

The article attempts to approach the autobiographical text of J.-P. Sartre as the material of a client in psychoanalysis. Thus, we present a new view of existentialism in its historical context and explain the phenomenon of the philosopher's long-term popularity. In the study, we proceed from the assumption that any elements of biography that fall into the "Words" have affective significance for the author, therefore, in some sense they are true, but we reserve the freedom of interpretation of these elements and are critical of the philosopher's reflection. We are introducing into the tradition of analyzing historical texts achievements of modern (intersubjective) psychoanalysis: in addition to the model of intrapsychic conflict, we use the model of deficit and the model of trauma. Consistently considering the role characteristics of the members of Sartre's parental family and the youngest Jean-Paul, as well as the protective patterns of Sartre-small and Sartre-adult, we classify the structure of his personality as predominantly narcissistic. We state that the experiences of inner emptiness, shame, inauthenticity of his being, and imposture that remained unprocessed, which largely determined the themes of his philosophy and literary works, did not allow Sartre to adequately differentiate his childhood emotional states. It was also only partially possible to compensate for the defect of the "Ego" with the help of literary creativity, but this creativity still made Sartre the "Guru to an Age". His contemporaries felt what he presented as an expression of their own problematic material, previously unconscious and formless, as well as a semantic space in which this material can be placed.