Identification and psychic closure. A dynamic structuralist approach of the psyche
In this paper, the emergence of psychic structures is conceived within a dynamic structuralist framework, developed in dialogue with the semiotic and dynamic viewpoint on levels from evolutionary systems theory. If psychic structures emerge, it is because they are particular kinds of organizationally closed systems that interpret the variety from below (the biological level) for the level above (the social level). The mechanism of psychic closure is presented as the key mechanism for the constitution of psychic structures, and is interpreted in terms of identification: an identificatory judgment is a self-referential, closing judgment that involves a reinterpretation of the level below (the organic body) and is addressed to the level above (the fellow human being). The way in which identification has worked determines the kinds of psychic structures that are formed and also leads to different kinds of signifying practices. Different types of identification are discussed and a brief presentation of clinical arguments serves to illustrate the determinative role of identification in the formation of psychic structures.
Van de Vijver G
FWO Flanders, Department of Philosophy and Moral Science, University of Gent, Belgium. gertrudis.vandevijver@rug.ac.be