Putting Laplanche’s “Originary Hermeneut” in a Relational Context: A Clinical Illustration

ABSTRACT

In her paper, Ashtor presents a compelling discussion of Laplanche’s significant contributions to metapsychology and offers a reformulation of his “drive to translate” in terms of affect and the infant’s inborn need for affect regulation. In response, this discussion examines Laplanche’s conceptualization of the patient as the “originary hermeneut” and his one-person model of translation from a relational psychoanalytic perspective. Using a clinical example, the role of the integration of affect in translation is illustrated. The patient’s hermeneutical movement, or translation of enigmatic implantations is viewed as emergent from intersubjective processes within the analytic field, constructed from the complex interplay of untranslated excess and the mutual influence afforded by the analytic relationship.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Notes on contributors

Deborah Liner

Deborah Liner, Ph.D., is a clinical consultant and co-chair of the Relational Track at the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis; a member of the faculty at The Stephen Mitchell Relational Study Center; Dean of Faculty at Center for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis of New Jersey; and a clinical consultant for doctoral students at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University.