Abstract:

Hellenistic philosophy invites comparison with psychoanalysis. The aim of its leading currents, Epicureanism and Stoicism, was explicitly therapeutic—to enable individuals to lead a good life. Pursuing this comparison, Freud may be regarded as a successor to Epicureanism because of his hedonistic theory of motivation, his materialistic outlook, and his critique of religion. However, both Epicureanism and classical Freudianism are faced with the problem of explaining how individuals can be motivated to pursue higher ethical and cultural ideals. In this regard the Stoic critique of Epicureanism reveals parallels with later developments in psychoanalytical theory, such as the work of Klein, Winnicott, and Hans Loewald. The work of Loewald is a special interest in this context, since he strives to give a coherent account of the problematic psychoanalytic concept of “sublimation,” which is often employed in attempts to explain the redirection of psychic energy toward higher goals. Loewald’s attendant challenge to the materialism and objectivism of much psychoanalytic theory suggests that writers such as Stephen Greenblatt, who emphasize only the affinities between Epicureanism and the modern world outlook, fail to tell the full story.

摘要：

希腊化哲学需要与精神分析进行比较。其主导潮流——享乐主义和斯多葛主义——的目标明确是治疗性的——让个人过上美好的生活。按照这种比较，弗洛伊德因其享乐主义动机理论、唯物主义观点以及对宗教的批判而被视为伊壁鸠鲁主义的继承者。然而，伊壁鸠鲁主义和古典弗洛伊德主义都面临着解释如何激励个人追求更高的伦理和文化理想的问题。在这方面，斯多葛派对伊壁鸠鲁主义的批判揭示了与后来精神分析理论的发展的相似之处，例如克莱因、温尼科特和汉斯·洛瓦尔德的著作。洛瓦尔德的作品对这种背景特别感兴趣，因为他努力对“升华”这个有问题的精神分析概念给出一个连贯的解释，这个概念经常被用来试图解释精神能量转向更高目标的过程。洛瓦尔德对许多精神分析理论的唯物主义和客观主义的随之而来的挑战表明，像斯蒂芬·格林布拉特这样只强调伊壁鸠鲁主义和现代世界观之间的相似性的作家未能讲述完整的故事。