Primary Perversion and Universal Law

Authors

Alan Bass, Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research

Abstract

My title is a deliberate reference to a paper by Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel, Perversion and the Universal Law. I imagine that Chasseguet-Smirgel would be surprised to hear her name invoked at a conference on Law and the Postmodern Mind, given her commitment to an essentialist model of truth. Within psychoanalysis, though, her theory of perversion has been much discussed and much criticized. Whatever the ultimate assessment of her thinking, Chasseguet-Smirgel does provide a framework for the discussion of the relations between law and the crucial psychoanalytic topic of perversion. The reasons are simple: She understands law as "the law of differentiation," thought (mind) as "the ability to think differences," and perversion as the pathology that defies the law (of differentiation) and attacks the ability to think (difference). Law, thought, difference, perversion. Even if whatever is called "postmodern" would most likely be anathema to her, Chasseguet-Smirgel raises the issues intrinsic to a "postmodern" conception of law and psychoanalysis.

Keywords

Democracy, Political Systems and Governments, European Union, Criminals, Divorce, Marriage and Couples, Law Reform, Law and Society

Disciplines

Law | Law and Society

Recommended Citation

Alan Bass, Primary Perversion and Universal Law, 16 Cardozo L. Rev. 1293 (1995).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/clr/vol16/iss3/19