IN THE FACE OF SMART PHONES:
Is the concept of "separation-individuation" obsolete?
Richard Koenigsberg
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This foundational work brings psychoanalytic insight to bear upon cultural and political phenomena. Symbiosis no longer describes an "infantile phase of development." Rather, in today's world depicts our very relationship to society itself.
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I observe that many people walk around today with cell or smart phones. The concept of symbiosis (and separation) needs to be re-evaluated. "Symbiosis" no longer best describes an "infantile phase of development." In today's world, rather symbiosis describes our very relationship with the world, what used to be called "external reality." We are symbiotically united  with objects outside the self. Is there such a thing as "individuation" in today's world?

Is the the concept if "separation-individuation" obsolete? Most people live  nowadays in a symbiotic tie with what used to be called "external reality." Is there such a thing as external reality?

People live in a state of FUSION WITH EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD. "Reality" is one great symbiotic fantasy. The Idea of "separate individual" no longer seems to describes reality. Everyone nowadays is fused with the world. From infancy to old age, one gigantic state of symbiotic fusion with the world.

Is this an accurate description of the -of the world in which we live today?

Please write to me and express your opinion: rakoenigsberg@libraryofsocialscience.com Tell me what you think.

     SYMBIOSIS AND SMART PHONES

Human beings wander around with cell or smart phones attached to their ears. The smart phone is fused with their body. Symbiosis describes our relationship to reality in the contemporary world: eternal, endless fusion. No separation. In today's world, is there such a thing as "external reality."

In the face of new cultural and societal realities, psychoanalytic theory needs to be revised or reevaluated. Given the New World in which we live, what is the status of the concept of "symbiosis" as well as the idea of "separation-individuation.

Please write to me and provide you opinion:
rakoenigsberg@libraryofsocialscience.com

 

  
I read Symbiosis and Separation with a good deal of excitement.  Much of my clinical work confirms his insights and theories. But he carries them creatively into the social science field. I was very impressed by this fascinating book.
—Frances Tustin, author of Autism and Childhood Psychosis

I am  intrigued by Koenigsberg's psychoanalytic theory of culture. I find a strong element of truth in what he has expressed. I want to emphasize the great pleasure I experienced in reading this book and finding it so thought-provoking.
—Bernard L. Pacella, M.D., former President of the American Psychoanalytic Association

I have read Symbiosis and Separation with great interest and have found it to offer a very thoughtful and perceptive analysis of the interplay of unconscious phantasy and cultural phenomena.
—Thomas Ogden, M.D., author of The Matrix of the Mind

Symbiosis and Separation: Towards A Psychology of Culture
(click link for order information)

Richard A. Koenigsberg

Table of Contents

I. The Dual Nature of the Human Ego
II. The Conversation Process as a Response to Separation
III. The Denial of Separateness
IV. Internalization
V. The Struggle for Separateness
VI. The Fantasy of Merger as a Source of Anxiety
VII. Conflict and Ambivalence Surrounding Separation-Individuation
VIII. The Transitional Object and the Struggle to Separate
IX. Culture as a Transitional Object
X. The Bodily Roots of the Symbol
XI. The Bodily Roots of Culture
XII. Repression
  Appendix
  Bibliography
  Index