The Structural Principle in Psychoanalysis: I. The Meaning of Structure

In this essay, I propose a reformulation of the structural principle in terms more consistent with previous reconceptualizations of the economic principle, as divorced from energy and drive considerations, and the dynamic principle based on non-drive-based motivations. The Rapaport—Gill rendition of the structural point of view is reevaluated in terms of more evolved conceptions of structure. Structures are theoretical constructions of various levels and degrees of complexity and organization. Dynamic structures related to patterns of agency and/or causality are distinct from representational or cognitive structures related to mental content. Critical appraisals of the structural approach are evaluated, and an argument presented linking dynamic structure with organization of activity and locating the source of agency in the self-as-agent and the components of the tripartite model as substructures of the self-mediating, channeling, and directing actions of the self. Issues of dealing with conflict and the role of representations in this model are discussed. A summary revision of the Rapaport—Gill

formulations is presented. Applications to structure formation and structural change are considered in a following essay.