Incest, as the acting of transgression and incestuality, as a psychic reality implying a narcissistic and alienating seduction, result of a causality explored by Spinoza and Freud, each in their own way. Founded on the main principles of their respective approach, the confrontation of their analyses of the individuation process, of filiation and of transgression, leads to each doctrine’s shedding light on the other. Then, the theoric points of convergence and the differences clearly appear. This confrontation also allows the theoric (...) reconstitution of the genesis and of the nature of incest in its three main forms : as an object of social prohibition, as psychic incest and as enacted incest. Far from being the effect of sexual desires paving the way to a transgression of the law, incest is fostered by the very absence of the law and by the survival of too intense links that show at the same time the difficulties and the immaturity of the individuals they bind. (shrink)

Loin de nier l’élection des Hébreux, Spinoza la naturalise et l’universalise, au moins à titre de virtualité, la vocation n’en étant qu’une spécification. Son analyse permet surtout de rendre compte, d’un point de vue mnémo-affectif, symbolique et stratégique, de la nature du pouvoir qu’un chef exerce sur son peuple, et de l’articulation de leurs ingenia respectifs. Enfin, elle éclaire le caractère exceptionnel de la destinée singulière de Moïse comme figure symbolique du bon politique, tout en permettant à Spinoza de penser, (...) à travers l’exemple hébreu, ce qu’est une destinée collective. (shrink)

How can we think about evil if we exclude free will? Spinoza and Freud define freedom in terms of the understanding of mechanisms arising in a person by necessity. Spinoza's letters to Blijenbergh, analyzed here through a Freudian lens, allow us to formulate a response to this problem.