The Deconstructive Owl of Minerva The Deconstructive Owl of Minerva: An Examination of Schizophrenia through Philosophy, Psychoanalysis and Postmodernism By Dr. Lillian Burke The Deconstructive Owl of Minerva: An Examination of Schizophrenia through Philosophy, Psychoanalysis and Postmodernism, by Dr. Lillian Burke This book first published 2013 Cambridge Scholars Publishing 12 Back Chapman Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2XX, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2013 by Dr. Lillian Burke All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-4845-X, ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-4845-9 For my sister, Carol with love TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................... xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................... xii INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Scientific and Psychoanalytic Background to Schizophrenia Chapter 2: G.W.F. Hegel Chapter 3: Jacques Lacan Chapter 4: Postmodernism Chapter 5: An Interdisciplinary Examination Conclusion CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................ 10 SCIENTIFIC AND PSYCHOANALYTICBACKGROUND TO SCHIZOPHRENIA Introduction Schizophrenia and Science Schizophrenia and ‘The Talking Cure’ Conclusion CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................... 26 GEORGWILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEL Introduction Fragmentation Religion and the Fragmentation of Consciousness The Self-Alienation of Law The Freedom-Seeking Individual Language The Objectifying Nature of Language The Dialectic of Becoming and Unhappy Consciousness Sanity and Insanity Stream of Consciousness Objects of Consciousness Object-Parts, Time-Parts and Creativity viii Table of Contents Unity and Time Deconstruction Consciousness and its Other Deconstructing the Master/Slave Dialectic Dreaming as a Deconstruction of Insanity The Creation of the Madman: Past and Present Conclusion CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................ 92 JACQUES LACAN Introduction Fragmentation The Separation of the Self The Socialization of the Self The Story of Trauma The Significance of the Gaze Language Signifiers, Signifieds and the Self The Destructive Power of the ‘Other’ The Return Journey of the Self The Therapy of Literature Stream of Consciousness Fragile Structures The Horrors of the Real The Haunting of the Self Echoes and Contexts Deconstruction Governments and Ghosts History in Mourning The Petrification of Reason The Gaze of Time Conclusion CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................ 154 POSTMODERNISM Introduction Fragmentation The Labour of Desire The Register of Desire Schizoanalysis and its Inquiries Oedipus and his Discontents The Deconstructive Owl of Minerva ix Language History as Story-teller and Savant Lyotard and the Unpresentable Narratives, Archives and Mutations The Aristocracy of Private Experience Stream of Consciousness Memory and the Schizophrenic Present Prolepses and the Anxiety of the Narrator Space, Frontiers and the Schizophrenic Consciousness Owning Schizophrenia Deconstruction The Fever and Sovereignty of the Archive Presence, Absence and Metaphysical Time Reality and Culture Conclusion CHAPTER FIVE .......................................................................................... 221 ANINTERDISCIPLINARY EXAMINATION Introduction The Linguistic Roots of Schizophrenia The Effects of Schizophrenia Ways in which Schizophrenia can be Analysed Schizophrenia as Manifest in Culture The Approach to Schizophrenia Conclusion CONCLUSION ............................................................................................ 244 APPENDICES ............................................................................................. 248 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 269 INDEX ....................................................................................................... 279