What does Freud mean by overdetermination?
Overdetermination, the idea that a single observed effect is determined by multiple causes at once (any one of which alone might be enough to account for the effect), was originally a key concept of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis.
Who gave the concept of overdetermination?
The French philosopher Althusser introduced the concept of overdetermination into the analysis of social formations. Resnick and Wolff have further transformed the concept and adopted it into a post-structuralist version of Marxian theory.
What does overdetermination mean in psychology?
n. in psychoanalytic theory, the concept that several unconscious factors may combine to produce one symptom, disorder, or aspect of behavior.
What is Althusser’s theory?
Althusser contends that ideology has a material existence because “an ideology always exists in an apparatus, and its practice, or practices” (Lenin 112). Ideology always manifests itself through actions, which are “inserted into practices” (Lenin 114), for example, rituals, conventional behavior, and so on.
What overdetermined data?
In mathematics, a system of equations is considered overdetermined if there are more equations than unknowns. The overdetermined case occurs when the system has been overconstrained — that is, when the equations outnumber the unknowns.
Which philosopher killed his wife?
Althusser’s life was marked by periods of intense mental illness. In 1980, he killed his wife, the sociologist Hélène Rytmann, by strangling her….
| Louis Althusser | |
|---|---|
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Western Marxism Structural Marxism Neo-Spinozism |
| Institutions | École Normale Supérieure |
What are the main ideas of Althusser?
Althusser’s point is that the economy is fundamentally structured by exploitation, and this exploitation always produces conflict. Ideology is a second-order formation that strives to ensure the continuation of the capitalist mode of production and continuing working-class adherence to a system that oppresses them.
Can an overdetermined system be consistent?
In general, overdetermined systems are inconsistent when they constructed with irregular coefficients. But, not always, sometimes they are consistent when some equations are linear combinations of the other equations in the system. So, an overdetermined system can be consistent (or can have a solution).
What does the term overdetermination mean in science?
That is, there are more causes present than are necessary to cause the effect. In the philosophy of science, this means that more evidence is available than is necessary to justify a conclusion. Overdetermination is in contrast to underdetermination, when the number or strength of causes is insufficient.
What does overdetermination of a contradiction mean for Althusser?
[For Althusser] overdetermination of a contradiction is the reflection in it of its conditions of existence within the complex whole.”.
When is an event or state of affairs is overdetermined?
In contemporary analytic philosophy an event or state of affairs is said to be overdetermined if it has two or more distinct, sufficient causes. In philosophy of mind, the famous case of overdetermination is called mental-physical causal overdetermination. If we accept that a mental state (M) is realized by a physical state (P).
Who was the philosopher of contradiction and overdetermination?
The Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser imported the concept into Marxist political theory in an influential essay, “Contradiction and overdetermination.”