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** *Richard Koenigsberg's Presentation at the Upcoming Conference at
Rutgers University: **"Who Created the Symbolic Order?"
*
* *
*Dear Colleagues,** *
* *
*Richard Koenigsberg is presenting an invited lecture at the upcoming
**conference* at ***Rutgers* **University****** on April 8-9. His paper
_Who Created the Symbolic Order_ (an abstract appears below) will set a
new path for social and cultural theory by posing the question: Why? Why
do particular ideologies and discourses become dominant?**
** **
**We invite you to hear Richard’s lecture (to be presented at **4 PM**
on Saturday, April 8) and to attend this exciting conference on
_Psychoanalysis and the Strategies of Resistance.
_*For information on the conference program, location and
accommodations, please click here:
**http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~bahunic/psychoanalysis.html
<http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/%7Ebahunic/psychoanalysis.html>*
*PLEASE NOTE: The conference organizers have established a very special
DISCOUNT RATE OF $10.00 IN ORDER TO ALLOW STUDENTS (both undergraduate
and graduate) to attend. However, you MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE. ***
** **
**To learn more or to register, please CLICK HERE.
<https://www.ideologiesofwar.com/register/>****
** **
**Seating at this exciting event is limited. We look forward to seeing
you there. Please register now to hold your place.**
** **
**With best regards,**
** **
**Orion **Anderson****
** **
**P.S. FACULTY MEMBERS: Please tell your students about this important
conference and how they can attend at the special, discount rate.**
** **
**P.P.S. For further information please contact Orion **Anderson** at
(718) 393-1104 or send an email to [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>****
** **
**
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**
**
**WHO CREATED THE SYMBOLIC ORDER?
**Richard Koenigsberg*
**
*In recent theory, mind and self are understood in terms of their
location within language and discourse. However, how may we explain
discourse itself? Why do particular discourses become powerful within
societies? Why are some representations embraced and perpetuated while
others are dismissed? How does a particular discourse—out of the
infinite possibilities—achieve dominance?*
* *
*Reality is socially constructed, but constructed based upon what? We
may view ideologies as the articulation of fantasies shared by members
of a society. Ideologies represent societally defined cognitive
structures that allow people to project their desires and fantasies into
reality. Like manifest content of dreams, ideologies conceal and reveal
a latent meaning.
Linguists George Lakoff and Mark Johnson have developed a theory of
embodied cognition, which may be summarized as follows: “Structure of
our bodily experience work their way up into abstract meanings and
structures of thought.” According to this perspective, mental
representations cannot be detached from the organism that produces them.
Metaphorical language reveals the bodily source of cognition.*
**
*Unconscious fantasies revolving around bodies, mothers and fathers give
rise to political metaphors such as the body politic, motherland and
fatherland. It is not simply that we use these words to convey that out
relationship to our nation is like a relationship with a body, mother or
father. Rather, according to the theory of embodied cognition,
relationships with seemingly external objects such as nations cannot be
separated from our mental representations of these objects. **Discourse
cannot be detached from our experiences of and fantasies about our own
bodies and the bodies of others.*
**
*The nature and structure of the symbolic order needs to be _explained_
rather than assumed. What do specific ideologies _do_ for the people who
embrace them? What psychological work does an ideology perform? We may
understand ideologies as cognitive structures functioning to allow
unconscious fantasies to make their way into the outer world.*
*The project of psychoanalyzing culture requires abandoning the belief
that human beings are simply subjects of discourse. Unless we believe
that the symbolic order was sent to us by God, we are obliged to pose
the question: Why have we brought into being such a world? What are the
psychic sources of the societies that human beings have constructed?*
*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
*To learn more or to register, please CLICK HERE.
<https://www.ideologiesofwar.com/register/>***
* *
*For information on the conference program, location and accommodations,
please click here:
***http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~bahunic/psychoanalysis.html
<http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/%7Ebahunic/psychoanalysis.html>**
* *
*For further information please contact Orion **Anderson** at (718)
393-1104 or send an email to [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>***
*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
***
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