Slow Magic: Psychoanalysis and “The Disenchantment of the World”

Abstract

Freud's work can be situated in terms of the debate between Enlightenment and anti-Enlightenment thought. The attempts of both sides to claim Freud for their position have merit, but they miss the crucial point: namely, that the tension between its Enlightenment and anti-Enlightenment tendencies is what gives Freud's thinking much of its vitality and depth. The task that faces the interpreter is therefore to elucidate that tension and assess the alignment of forces between the two strands in his thought. An examination of the concept of magic in Freud's theory provides an opportunity to pursue this interpretive task. Although the Enlightenment position he often seems to embrace advocates the complete elimination of magic, many “magical” elements remain in his theory and clinical practice. Nor should this situation be deplored, for the ambition to completely exorcise “enchantment” from human experience is one of the misguided excesses of the Enlightenment. The question of an appropriate fate for magic in psychoanalysis is discussed in relation to the vicissitudes of the transference. Finally, the science versus hermenueutics debate is examined in the light of these considerations in an attempt to specify the unique nature of the psychoanalytic experience.