Abstract

GERMER, Guilherme Marconi  and  VILLELA, Fabio Camargo Bandeira. Processes of Subjectivation in Freud: Primary and Secondary Sublimation. Psic. da Ed. [online]. 2024, n.57, pp.13-22.  Epub Mar 05, 2025. ISSN 2175-3520.  https://doi.org/10.23925/2175-3520.2024i57p13-22.

In this article, we aim to contribute to the studies on the processes of subjectivation in Freud, through a questioning of the extent to which the pursuit of happiness, analyzed in section II of Civilization and Its Discontents, is grounded in two complementary concepts of sublimation: (1) the one the author identified in The Ego and the Id as "secondary narcissism", characterizing it as a process of identification of the ego with the object of desire, aiming to protect itself from its loss (and from which character originates); and (2) the one he described in Civilization and Its Discontents as the “fate imposed on the instinct by civilization,” and the “better path” in the face of isolation, formed by participation in the human community and the civilizatory subordination of nature to our will. We propose to test whether both concepts can be referred to as “primary” and “secondary” sublimation.

Keywords : Civilization; Frustration; Happiness; Narcissism; Survival.