Psychoanalysis and Philosophy in Berlin
This Thursday (8th April), Dr. Eve Watson and myself will have a discussion on the “queer” marriage between psychoanalysis and queer theory. As part of the IPU Library Talk, we will discuss her edited collection Clinical Encounters in Sexuality: Psychoanalytic Practice and Queer Theory (Eds. Watson & Giffney). The discussion will take place on Zoom… Continue reading IPU Library Talk – Queer Theory and Psychoanalysis
This Saturday (13 Feb, 2021), my good friend Isabel Millar and myself are going to have a talk about artificial intelligence, sci-fi and psychoanalysis at the International Psychoanalytic University (IPU) library talk. Last time we talked about autism, and this month we will take the discussion into this emerging field, which I personally find quite… Continue reading IPU Library Talk – Artificial Intelligence and Psychoanalysis
This week my interview with Dr. Vanessa Sinclair was published in her podcast Rendering Unconscious and on YouTube. In the interview I talk about segments of my new book on autism and about my personal involvement with autism. Dr. Sinclair was a gracious interviewer and I hope those of you that are interested in my… Continue reading Video Interview on The Autistic Subject
A new video I made for the Berlin based group Berlin Psychoanalytic. In this video I present Freud's fascinating analysis of the butcher's witty wife's dream, providing some insight into the mechanics and technique of dream analysis in Freud and Lacan. https://youtu.be/HoWXhYg2vHM
Concurrent with our work in laLAB (Lacanian Affinities Berlin), this spring will mark the launching of the first semester of our Lacanian clinical supervision group. This group will provide therapists and clinicians who work with patients a place to discuss cases and provide each other with insights that are rooted in the Lacanian orientation. The… Continue reading New: Lacanian Clinical Supervision Group in Berlin
As a child, I was obliged to read and memorize the stories of the Old Testament. While I found a good deal of these stories to be boring and even incomprehensible (being written in ancient Hebrew), some did capture my imagination and were quite nerve wrecking and traumatic to read. These stories portrayed harsh relationships… Continue reading The Virus God and the Graph Curve
"The word is the murder of the thing" says Lacan. Even more so the written word, that is never truly "full," always lacking the subjective context and performative power incorporated in one's enunciative presence. Therefore, it comes with no surprise that reading Lacan's published seminars—while being usually quite engaging—lacks a certain presence that was only… Continue reading Lacan’s Gribouille
If you haven’t seen Todd Phillips’ The Joker (2019) you’ve probably heard something about it. Here’s a very brief synopsis (semi-spoiler alert): The film recounts the life of Arthur Fleck (played by Joaquin Phoenix), a comedian living in Gotham City, on the pathway to becoming the ultimate Batman villain—the Joker. Arthur is portrayed as a… Continue reading The Joker (explained?)
While Lacan's demeanor, and the general atmosphere in his seminars at the Sainte-Anne hospital, can be said to characterize a zoo, it is Lacan's explicit reference to animals that will be our main interest today. Being a loving dog owner himself (naming his beloved dog Justine after the eponymous sex slave of the Marquis de… Continue reading Lacan and his Animals
One of Lacan's most intriguing conceptualisations is that of the "Real". Distinct from the "symbolic" and "imaginary" registers, the Real has been accompanying Lacan's teaching from the very beginning - gaining centre stage in the later years of his seminars. But what is the Real? First of all, let us acknowledge that it is not… Continue reading The Lacanian Real
Leon Brenner 