Antinarcissism is a specific form of
narcissistic character that, rather than
aggrandising the ego, restricts its scope without diminishing the amount of self-investment involved. It is seen in the
philosophy of Ubuntu and the works of figures such as
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
, that do not advocate any form of supremacy or the elevation of self above the community.
Development
Antinarcissism was first introduced by Francis Pasche in 1964 within the theoretical debate that initially sought out to define narcissism and describe its role in psychic development.
Pasche described the concept as a centrifugal investment, in which the subject tends to be divested of self, to give up their own substance and reserves of love, independent of any economic factors.
Christopher Bollas
Christopher Bollas (born 1943) is a British psychoanalyst and writer. He is a leading figure in contemporary psychoanalytic theory.
Early life and education
Bollas was born in the United States in Washington, DC. He grew up in Laguna Beach, Ca ...
introduced the concept of antinarcissism to describe a self-limiting kind of narcissist who refuses to develop themselves or use their talents, so as to maintain their exaggerated sense of self-importance ''in defeat''. "This anti-elaborative person 'stews in his own juice' and adamantly refuses to nurture himself". The antinarcissist may preserve a hostile, even sadistic, core behind a self-effacing facade of care and consideration for others.
André Green similarly wrote of antinarcissism as a negative narcissism that seeks self-destructively to abolish the ego in its "aspiration for nothingness". This is part of his notion of dual narcissism, which is likely to be mapped onto the irreducible dualism of life and death drives, opposing the concept of positive narcissism, which aims to reach unity, and negative narcissism, one that strives toward the zero level and aims at nothingness. Green's concept is akin to
Francis Pasche's conception of antinarcissism, which is characterized by an object and a direction.
Other formulations
Fritz Wittels
Fritz Wittels, born Siegfried Wittels" parents, who were full of the Wagnerian enthusiasm of those days, named me Siegfried. I was always ashamed of that name, which was too glorious to be used on weekdays, so they called me Fritz..." (November ...
earlier described antinarcissism as the tendency of two lovers to lose themselves each in the other.
[F. Wittels, ''Sigmund Freud'' (2013]923
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Year 923 ( CMXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* June 15 – Battle of Soissons: King Robert I is killed; the Frankish a ...
p. 207 He explained that the essence of love is identification and that each become conscious only in and through one another.
saw antinarcissism as the female internalisation of the
male gaze – an alien standard to live up to – as opposed to developing their own selves. There is also a concept called Antinarcissistic Rhetoric, which pertains to the way women use rhetors to appropriate patriarchal discourses for the purpose of creating ethos with their audience.
See also
References
{{Reflist, 2}
External links
Antinarcissism
Psychodynamics
Psychoanalytic terminology
Narcissism