The contemporary malaise of interpassivity: On feeling, subjectivation, and automation

Abstract

AbstractFrom a psychoanalytic perspective, this article presents and discusses the concept of interpassivity as a possible unconscious dynamic constitutive of the new forms of contemporary malaise and how it is implicated in the dynamics of subjectivation and enjoyment. Drawing on Mario Perniola’s insights into the changing nature of feeling and its radical numbing, the article seeks to connect the threads of this form of malaise by investigating the influence of interpassivity in our relationship with objects and shedding light on the complex interplay between subjectivity and the objects that surround us. Furthermore, the authors propose a reading of interpassive practices that, from within the horizon of contemporary malaise, implies the disappearance of unconscious subjectivity and appears to induce specific processes of desubjectivation.