Attempt at a Psychoanalytical Definition of Freedom

An attempt is made to define a psychoanalytical concept of freedom. It must be located in the psychic system in the field of unconscious and conscious/preconscious. While the unconscious operates contingently and is organized as a primary process, the ego operates according to the reality principle and is organized as a secondary process; the superego operates in a critical, self-observing manner and is thus also organized as a secondary process. With the help of Bion and Matte-Blanco’s findings, it is shown that freedom can also be found in the binocular, bi-logical functioning of the systems. These considerations are illustrated in clinical vignettes. In the nameless, which does not exist psychically, freedom cannot occur. Freedom arises, as a second vignette shows, in the sublation of the nameless state in the relationship. In the psychic, to feel understood and to intuitively and sensually understand is a liberation. This freedom of understanding is bound to the presentative symbol and is not yet freedom of action. Freedom of action arises, as the last vignette illustrates, when the presentative state can be thought of in a word presentation that is linked to the thing presentation. It enables decisions and the possibility of apologizing.