Religion and Psychoanalysis
Fall Semester 2010
Week One
|
Aug. 31: Introductions and Overviews Video: Young Dr. Freud(1st
half) |
Readings
and Assignments
Readings are due for the day |
Classical Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
Sept. 02: Foundational Concepts
|
·
M&B: Preface; pp. 1-8 ·
Freud, S. (1910) “Observations on 'Wild Psycho-analysis’” |
Week Two
Sept. 07: Psychoanalysis as technique
Video: Young Dr. Freud (2nd
half) |
·
Freud (1914), “Recollection,
Repetition, and Working Through” ·
Freud “Observations on
Transference-love” |
Sept. 09:
The Interpretation of Dreams
|
·
M&B, ch. 1, pp. 8-10 ·
Freud, S., The Method of Interpreting Dreams,
from The Interpretation of Dreams. |
Week Three
Sept. 14: No Class
|
|
Sept. 16: Freud’s Structural Model
Central
Concepts: Childhood sexuality, drives, psychic conflict and
the structural model. Case: Gloria Interlude:
Luis Bunuel’s Un Chien
Andalou Psychoanalysis
and Surrealism
|
·
M&B, ch. 1, pp. 10-22 |
Freud on Religion and Society
Week Four
Sept. 21: Film
and Discussion: Kieslowski's "Decalogue 4: Honor Thy Father and
Mother"
|
Concepts and Cases Quiz 1 Due in class on Sept. 30 |
Th Sept. 23: Do
Religions have their origins in deep motivations of the unconscious?
|
·
Freud, Totem
and Taboo, Ch. 4, parts 5-7 ·
Freud, Civilization and its Discontents, ch. 1. |
Week Five
|
Sept. 28: Is
religion a necessary illusion? Discussion
leaders: Will and Caitlin |
·
Freud, The
Future of an Illusion ·
T.S. Eliot’s review of The Future of an Illusion in Criterion,
VIII, Vol. 3, 1929, pp. 350-53. Due in class on Oct. 5th |
|
Sept. 30: Class Cancelled: Road Closed |
Melanie Klein
Week six
|
Oct. 05: The Paranoid-Schizoid Position and
The Depressive Position Case: Rachel
|
·
M&B, ch. 4, pp. 85-94. |
|
Oct. 07: Projective Identification / Wilfred Bion |
· M&B, ch. 4, pp. 101-111. |
\
Ejecting the Bitch:
Toward a Kleinian Analysis of
Ridley Scott’s Alien
|
Oct. 07 8:15 PM in Library 321 (required): Alien |
Due Oct. 19 in class |
Week seven
|
Oct.12: No Class (Fall Reading Day) |
|
|
Oct. 14: Discussion of Alien, Begin Hindu Goddesses |
Concepts and Cases Quiz 2 Study materials Lecture
notes: Freud and Klein Lecture
notes: The Two Positions |
Splitting and the
Goddess
Week eight
|
Oct. 19: Family Origins of the Goddesses 1.
Kakar and The Maternal Enthrallment 2.
Kurtz and All the Mothers as One |
· Carstairs, selection from The Twice Born ·
Kakar, selections from The
Inner World: A Psycho-Analytic Study of Childhood in India |
|
Oct. 21: From Kali’s Sword
to Krishna’s Flute: A Psychoanalytic Case Study of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. |
Due in the tray outside my office by noon on
November 2nd. |
Object Relations Theory
Fairbairn
Week nine
|
Oct. 28:
Fairbairn and the British Object Relations School |
·
M&B: Ch. 5, pp. 112-123 |
Donald Winnicott
Week ten
|
Nov. 02: No Class (all advising day) |
|
|
Nov. 04: False
Self Disorder Discussion
leaders: Noel and Antigone |
·
M&B, ch. 5, pp. 124-138 ·
Winnicott, D., Ego Distortion in Terms of True and False
Self. |
Week eleven
|
Nov. 09: Transitional Experience Discussion
leaders: Mark, Stephanie and Hannah |
·
Winnicott, D. The Use of An Object. ·
Winnicott, D. Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena – A Study of the
First Not-Me Possession. |
|
Nov. 11: Discuss Lars
and the Real Girl |
Concepts and Cases Quiz 3 Due in class on Nov. 16 |
Religion and the Imagination
Week twelve
|
Nov. 18: Pruyser Discussion
leaders: Brad and Jennifer S. |
·
Pruyser, P. Psychological Roots and
Branches of Belief; Forms and Functions of the Imagination in Religion Due in class on Dec. 02 |
Week thirteen
|
Nov. 23 & 25: No Class |
|
God as Transitional Object
Week fourteen
|
Nov. 30: Case Studies Discussion
leader: David |
·
Rizzuto, God, My Enemy |
|
Dec. 02: Case Studies Discussion
leaders: Adam and Mary |
·
Rizzuto, A God in the Mirror ·
Rizzuto, God the Enigma |
Psychology Without a Self:
Buddhism and Psychoanalysis
Week fifteen
|
Dec. 07: Quiz, Narrative
Evaluations, Introduction to Buddhism and Psychoanalysis |
Concepts and Cases Quiz 4 ·
Epstein, Toward a Buddhist
Psychotherapy ·
·
|
|
Dec. 09: Self and No-Self in Western Psychology and
Buddhist Meditation Discussion
leader: Jeremiah |
·
Epstein, Meditative
Transformations of Narcissism; The Deconstruction of the Self:
Ego and “Egolessness” in Buddhist Insight
Meditation |
|
Final Meeting:
Tuesday Dec. 14, 7:00 to 9:15 PM
·
Totemic Feast |
Essays
(4)........................................ 400
(100 per essay)
Film
Analyses (3)............................ 150
Concepts
and Cases Quizzes (4)..... 200
Discussion
Leading......................... 75
Discussion
Responses...................... 75
Participation................................... 100
Final Grade Values
1000 Points Possible
|
900 to 919 = A- 880 to 899 = B+ 820 to 879 = B 800 to 819 = B- 780 to 799 = C+ |
700 to 719 = C- 680 to 699 = D+ 620 to 679 = D 600 to 619 = D- 599 & below = F |
Track
your progress on Blackboard
A Note on Grading: If ever
you disagree with a grade, you can always
come to me and clarify, discuss, protest and persuade. I might be convinced, I might not. Either way I will always listen.
Participation: “Participation”
means (1) being awake and alert, (2) preparing all reading assignments, (3)
being actively involved in class interactions, (4) arriving to class on time,
and (5) completing all of the in-class writing assignments. Lack of any of these will affect a student’s
grade; a serious lack of any of these is reason for dismissal from the class.
My Attendance Policy: Attendance
is required, though I will allow two free days during the semester. Without regular attendance, students do not
tend to do well in the class. A note
from a doctor, dentist, coach, or funeral director will render any absence
excused. Without such a note, the absence will not be excused. Please note that a phone call or email
message saying that you are ill is not sufficient, and that leaving class early
will result in a marked absence. Each
unexcused absence results in a 20 point reduction.
My Office Hours: My office number and hours are listed
above. Please make an appointment if you
can, but feel completely free to drop by with your concerns, ideas, questions,
etc. I will always make time if I can. If need be, we can certainly communicate by
email, but in-person is always best.
Online Syllabus, Email Communications, and Computer
Failure. This online syllabus can be
accessed through the Blackboard course page but I recommend that you bookmark
it so as to bypass BB, which is sometimes down.
Students are responsible for checking the online syllabus and their
email every day. I will announce any
and all changes via email – e.g., a changed deadline or altered reading
assignment Computer failure is not a
valid excuse for a late assignment. Broken or unreliable computer? Use the computers at the college. The syllabus is my best projection of how our
time will be organized. I might well
alter the assignment schedule as seems appropriate or necessary; but I will not
change the grading policies.
Academic dishonesty in any form --
including plagiarism of self or others, falsified documentation of a doctor’s
note, etc. -- will not be tolerated. Cheating of any kind results, without exception, in an “F” for the
course. Really.
Food
in class: Drinks and snacks of the very quiet variety are
allowed in class, nothing else.