Skip to content

COURSE TEN – Entering Laplanche Through the Clinic: An Introductory Perspective

COURSE TEN - Entering Laplanche Through the Clinic: An Introductory Perspective

Course Coordinator: Stephen Fowler

Course Instructors: Stephen Fowler and Cecilia Taiana

Thursdays, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm: March 2, 9, 23, 30, 2023. (4 sessions)

Fee: $240

Deadline for registration is February 20, 2023.
Preregistration is required.

** DISTANCE PARTICIPATION ONLY – This course will be conducted online.

Purpose: To advance knowledge and clinical use of Jean Laplanche’s thinking.

After many years of studying Freud and translating his works into French, Jean Laplanche, French psychoanalyst and philosopher, concluded that the abandonment of Freud’s original theory of seduction deserved serious revisiting. Laplanche posited an irreducible primordial sexual seduction across all human experiences predicated in the newborn child situation that he called the Fundamental Anthropological Situation. The experience of the infant who is “without words” and recipient of the unconscious sexual of the adult, institutes the repressed unconscious in all of us. This course will use clinical cases and vignettes to understand better the presence and functioning of the sexual in the psychoanalytic session. 

Preparatory Work

Please read in preparation for the first class: An Interview with Jean Laplanche. Cathy Carruth. Emory University, http://pmc.iath.virginia.edu/text-only/issue.101/11.2caruth.txt

To promote a group interactive discussion in every session, we would like each participant to choose one or two paragraphs in the weekly readings. Participants will then be able to bring their chosen paragraphs for group discussion.

An outline of weekly sessions and required readings will be provided to participants after registration.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the course the participants will be able to:

  1. To enter Laplanche’s thinking through clinical cases.
  2. To outline Laplanche’s engagement with Freud’s texts and his reexamination of some of the foundational concepts of psychoanalytic theory and practice.
  3. To explore in an introductory manner the metapsychological works of Jean Laplanche.
Register Now
Stephen G. Fowler MD, FIPA

Psychoanalyst in private practice.

Cecilia Taiana, Phd (Psychology)

Psychoanalyst in practice in Ottawa. She has authored papers on a number of topics, including Trauma, and is a former winner of both the Miguel Prados and the Douglas Levin Prizes awarded for papers written, by the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society.

This event is eligible for Section 1 CME credits (0.5 credits/hour). This event is an accredited group learning activity (section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certificate Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, approved by the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA). The specific opinions and content of this event are not necessarily those of the CPA, and are the responsibility of the organizer(s) alone. As per the Royal College standard, each presentation provides a minimum of 25% interactive learning.

Full-time students in universities and colleges, and mental-health trainees are eligible for a 25% reduction in course fees. Proof of 2022/2023 status needs to be provided. Please contact the tps&i directly to register at a discount.

Refunds must be requested in writing two weeks prior to the beginning of a course. A handling fee of $30 will be retained. After these two weeks, fees cannot be returned.

For more information about and for registration in the tps&i Extension Programs, Scientific Meetings, Training Programs, Study and Supervision groups and Special Presentations, please visit our website: torontopsychoanalysis.com or email info@torontopsychoanalysis.com

Back To Top