Dominique Scarfone, "The Reality of the Message: Psychoanalysis in the Wake of Jean Laplanche" (Unconscious in Translation, 2023)

Psychoanalysis requires a shift from prioritizing ego-driven adaptation to engaging with the "exigency" of the unconscious. Dominique Scarfone and Avgi Saketopoulou argue that Freud’s work is best understood through Jean Laplanche’s framework, which posits that infantile sexuality is not innate but emerges from enigmatic transmissions between adults and children. This process creates an excitable body that continuously seeks to translate or "transduce" these early, unresolved experiences. By bracketing the practical demands of daily life, analysts can foster a space where the sexual unconscious—a wild, non-adaptive force—can manifest. This approach replaces rigid, totalizing interpretations with an open-ended process of re-translation, allowing patients to navigate their desires and histories without being reduced to a fixed identity. Ultimately, the unconscious serves as a source of fundamental freedom rather than a problem to be solved.