Due to the inherent contradiction in Freud's concept of the Superego, there is a gap in our psychoanalytic understanding of how conscience evolves. This distinction is essential for the successful treatment of patients dominated by a harsh Superego and provides valuable insight into how contemporary society evaluates moral decisions. The Petrified Ego argues for a revision of psychoanalytic theory to include instinct as the primary form of morality. It makes the case that our earliest, infantile notion of 'good' and 'bad' is rather founded on experiences which have been 'safe or 'threatening'. More often than not, this is the basis of our moral judgement of others. It is only through direct challenge to these visceral values that beliefs independent of the survival instinct can be forged. Why does this matter? Lack of distinction between the two means that consideration of the 'right or wrong' or the 'good or bad' of others' behaviour is no more than the rationalising of an instinctual response.

Hammering Hot Iron is a rare work that raises important questions, draws vital distinctions, and elevates discourse within the spiritual community on the Men's Movement, Jungian psychology, archetypal and mythological studies, and polytheistic religions. Drawing on the perennial philosophy, the universal expression of absolute truth, Upton offers a metaphysical and cultural critique of Robert Bly's Iron John. Upton adopts Bly's shadow in the Jungian sense. His intellectual argument is masterfully intertwined with his own personal and spiritual journey, often expressed through original poetry. "The book is excellent. Upton's insights have exposed the shallow philosophical thinking associated with the Men's Movement, the inadequacy of polytheism as a religious faith, and the bias against Christianity. Hammering Hot Iron does a splended job of critiquing Jungian writers and in showing there is more to God than the archetype of God in the psyche. Thank you for your excellent work in setting the record straight " -- John A. Sanford, Jungian analyst "Charles Upton provides a long-overdue masterful critique of the Men's Movement, its popularizing heroes, and the archetypal psychology on which it is based. In this marvelously iconoclastic book, Upton articulates the feelings and thoughts of those who have left the movement or are wondering why they are still part of it. He does so with eloquence, wit, and not least, wisdom. --Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., author of Voices on the Threshold of Tomorrow and Structures of Consciousness Charles Upton is a poet, social activist, and writer of the spiritual path. He is author of many other books published by Sophia Perennis

Dissecting the Superego: Moralities Under the Psychoanalytic Microscope offers a comprehensive overview of how the superego, the workings of our moral faculties, may be understood and clinically utilised in contemporary practice. Drawing on the latest psychoanalytic thinking – as well as neurobiological, psychological and ethical perspectives- this book reinstates the superego as a central concept, and gives a clear guide to its importance in the modern world. In addition to the theoretical background of this construct, the contributors provide a clear guide to the importance of the superego in a range of pathological and everyday scenarios, and particularly in clinical settings. With an emphasis on the wider social and cultural context, Dissecting the Superego: Moralities Under the Psychoanalytic Microscope will be of interest to trainee and qualified psychotherapists, social workers, youth offender and probation workers and ethicists.

In the space of barely more than five years, with the publication of four pathbreaking books, Slavoj Žižek has earned the reputation of being one of the most arresting, insightful, and scandalous thinkers in recent memory. Perhaps more than any other single author, his writings have constituted the most compelling evidence available for recognizing Jacques Lacan as the preemient philosopher of our time. In Tarrying with the Negative, Žižek challenges the contemporary critique of ideology, and in doing so opens the way for a new understanding of social conflict, particularly the recent outbursts of nationalism and ethnic struggle. Are we, Žižek asks, confined to a postmodern universe in which truth is reduced to the contingent effect of various discursive practices and where our subjectivity is dispersed through a multitude of ideological positions? No is his answer, and the way out is a return to philosophy. This revisit to German Idealism allows Žižek to recast the critique of ideology as a tool for disclosing the dynamic of our society, a crucial aspect of which is the debate over nationalism, particularly as it has developed in the Balkans—Žižek's home. He brings the debate over nationalism into the sphere of contemporary cultural politics, breaking the impasse centered on nationalisms simultaneously fascistic and anticolonial aspirations. Provocatively, Žižek argues that what drives nationalistic and ethnic antagonism is a collectively driven refusal of our own enjoyment. Using examples from popular culture and high theory to illuminate each other—opera, film noir, capitalist universalism, religious and ethnic fundamentalism—this work testifies to the fact that, far more radically than the postmodern sophists, Kant and Hegel are our contemporaries.

This collection introduces and develops Lacanian thought concerning the relations among language, subjectivity, and society. Lacanian Theory of Discourse provides an account of how language both interacts with and constitutes structures of subjectivity, producing specific attitudes and behaviors as well as significant social effects.

Slavoj Žižek is one of the world's foremost cultural commentators: a prolific writer and thinker, whose vividly adventurous, unorthodox and wide-ranging writings have won him a unique place as one of the most high profile thinkers of our time. Covering psychoanalysis, philosophy and popular culture and drawing on a heady mix of Marxist politics, Hegelian dialectics and Lacanian psychoanalysis, the writings collected in Interrogating the Real reflect not only the remarkable extent of Žižek's varied interests, but also reveal his controversial and dynamic style.

In Essays on the Pleasure of Death, Ellie Ragland discusses the interconnection of Freud and Lacan's theories, while maintaining that crucial differences between them still exist. Ragland argues, however, that Lacan's "return to Freud" gave coherence to concepts which Freud could never explain: psychosis, narcissism, the body and the death drive. Drawing upon Lacan's untranslated seminars through 1981, Ragland analyzes his theories of the death drive and the concept of jouissance, the driving force behind language and libido. Along with her examination of Lacanian theories about the body, meaning systems, and how they shape reality, Ragland also discusses the ethical problems of psychoanalysis and the ways in which Lacan's work points to the inadequacies of terms like "sexuality" and "gender."