Machinic Unconscious Happy Hour Jean Laplanche - The Temptation of Biology: Freud's Theories of Sexuality
Jun 15, 2025
They debate Laplanche’s reworking of Freud’s seduction theory and the idea that adults implant enigmatic sexual messages in infants. They unpack leaning-on and caregiving as sites of inscription. They compare polymorphous perversity, drives and instincts and question whether sexuality is everywhere. They consider Oedipus, paranoia, superego formation, and implications for technology and reproduction.
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Seduction As Universal Psychic Implantation
- Jean Laplanche reconceives Freud's seduction theory as universal rather than merely literal child abuse.
- He argues adults inevitably implant enigmatic sexual signifiers into helpless children, shaping the unconscious.
Sexuality Originates In The Other
- Laplanche insists sexuality is exogenous: it must come from the adult other rather than being innate in the child.
- The child's helpless dependence makes it susceptible to unconscious, enigmatic transmissions from caregivers.
Polymorphous Perversity And Sexual Indistinction
- Polymorphous perversity describes infant sexuality as undifferentiated and not genitally fixed.
- If everything sexual is flattened, Laplanche warns, then the sexual loses distinctiveness and explanatory power.
