Drive theory and heredity in Amy Allen's Critique on the Couch

Abstract

Amy Allen’s Critique on the Couch is a seminal contribution to the study of the relationship between psychoanalysis and critical theory. At a time when most authors prefer to ignore the difficulties raised by the pessimistic anthropology of psychoanalysis rather than turning those difficulties into the object of their reflexion, Allen’s approach does justice to the inspiration of the founders of the Frankfurt School, who made psychoanalysis one of the pillars of their critical theory of society.