This conference features two distinguished psychoanalysts, Heinz Weiss and David Bell in dialogue, delving into the perspectives of Hannah Arendt and Roger Money-Kyrle on propaganda and totalitarianism.
Like Money-Kyrle’s observations of the horrors that arise from authoritarianism, Arendt’s analysis foresaw that power can distort truth, rebranding inconvenient and undesirable facts as “fake news”: “If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.” (Interview, R. Errera, 1978).
David Bell considers Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), emphasizing its psychoanalytic dimensions. Focusing on Arendt’s vital concept of “thinking”-a crucial mental process that totalitarian regimes actively suppress–Bell compares the natural connections between Arendt’s analysis of thought and its inhibitors and today’s psychoanalytic theories, particularly the work of Wilfred Bion. Arendt’s analysis offers a unique interdisciplinary lens for understanding the psychological mechanisms that both resist and succumb to totalitarian states of mind.
Heinz Weiss probes Money-Kyrle’s notions of war, the super-ego, authoritarian regimes, fascist personalities, and the repetition compulsion. Shaped by his experiences in World War I and World War II, Money-Kyrle reported on the propaganda speeches of Hitler and Goebbels. Philosopher, anthropologist, and psychoanalyst, Money-Kyrle (1898-1980) warned of the corruption of normal super-ego functions by a megalomaniacal ego, cautioning against the danger of these trends in contemporary postmodern societies.
Moderator: Susan Finkelstein
Presenters:
David Bell is a Consultant Psychiatrist in the Adult Department at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, where is Director of Postgraduate Training and leads a specialist service (the Fitzjohn’s Unit) for the more complex cases. He lectures and publishes widely on various subjects including the historical development of psychoanalytic concepts (Freud, Klein and Bion) and the psychoanalytic understanding of severe disorders. For his entire professional career he has deeply involved himself in interdisciplinary studies (the relation between psychoanalysis and literature, philosophy and socio-political theory). He has written numerous papers and chapters in books/monographs, edited two books, Reason and Passion and Psychoanalysis and Culture and written one small book Paranoia. He is also one of the UK’s leading psychiatric experts in asylum and immigration. In 2012 he took up the position of Professorial Fellow at Birkbeck College. He is a former President of The British Psychoanalytic Society.
Heinz Weiss is a distinguished psychoanalyst whose extensive career bridges medicine, philosophy, and psychoanalysis. After studying both medicine and philosophy, he served as a professor at the universities of Würzburg and Tübingen, and for over two decades headed the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine at the Robert-Bosch-Clinic in Stuttgart. Since 2012, he has also directed the Medical Department of the Sigmund-Freud-Institute in Frankfurt a.M. A Guest Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society, he has frequently collaborated with John Steiner. Dr. Weiss specializes in the psychoanalytic understanding and treatment of borderline organizations, and his key publications include Trauma, Guilt and Reparation (Routledge 2020), The Claustro-Agoraphobic Dilemma (co-ed. with Susan Finkelstein, Routledge 2024) , and The Allure of Psychic Retreats: A Festschrift for John Steiner (co-ed. with Abbot Bronstein, Claudia Frank, and Priscilla Roth, Brandes & Apsel 2024).
Program Fee:
General: $95 | CFS & IPTAR Members: $80 | All Candidates: $30
Registration closes at 5:00pm on February 6th
Cancellation within 7 days of program.
A recording of this event will be available for anyone who is not able to attend in real time. However, CE credits are available only to those who attend in real time.
References:
Arendt, Hannah (1976) [1951, New York: Schocken]. The Origins of Totalitarianism [Elemente und Ursprünge totaler Herrschaft] (revised ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Arendt, H. (1978) “From an Interview,” with Roger Errera, New York Review of Books 25/16: 18
Bell, D. (2022) Psychoanalytic Reflections on the Conditions of Possibility of Human Destructiveness. International Journal of Psychoanalysis 103:674-691
De Masi, F. (2020), The perverse and the psychotic superego. Int. J.. Psycho-Anal.101:735-739.
Money-Kyrle, R., Meltzer, D. & O’Shaughnessy, E. (1978) The Collected Papers of Roger Money-Kyrle. The Collected Papers of Roger Money-Kyrle 48:i-xvi
Roth, B. (2015) Banal No More: An Essay on the Film Hannah Arendt, with Special Reference to Eichmann and the Nazi Killing Groups. Psychoanalytic Review 102:265-289
Weiss, H. (2024), Einleitung zu Kapitel 6 ‚Kognitive Entwicklung’, in: Roger Money-Kyrle, Ausgewählte Schriften, Bd. 3, 115-118.
Weiss, H. (2023) L’ARTICLE DE ROGER MONEY-KYRLE DE 1934 SUR LA GUERRE : CONTEXTE ET HISTOIRE PERSONNELLE. L’anneé Psychanalytique Internationale 2023:213-216
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this seminar, participants will be able to:
1. Describe the connections between Hannah Arendt’s work and psychoanalysis.
2. Articulate the similarities between Arendt’s approach to the phenomenon of totalitarianism and psychoanalytic understanding of megolamanic states.
3. Describe the connections between Roger Money-Kyrle’s concept of the perverse super ego and current individual and social processes.
4. Describe Money-Kyrle’s authoritarian, humanist, and fascist personalities.
CFS Scientific Program Committee:
Cornelius Dufallo (Chair) • Baiyu Chen • Umi Chong • Jennifer Grant • Michael Krass • Kristin Lee • Jessica Reik • Janet Schiff
IPTAR Programs Committee:
Masha Mimran (chair), Steve Ellman, Nancy de Holl, Anna Fishzon, Gabriel Heller, Judy Ann Kaplan, Susanna Stephens, Aneta Stojnić, Lissa Weinstein
Who Should Attend: The instructional level for this activity is advanced. Mental Health Professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, licensed professional counselors, e.g. LPs, LCATs, and pastoral counselors) and those with an interest in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic thinking and clinical applications.
Continuing Education Credits:
NY Social Workers: The PTI-CFS is recognized by the NYS Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0087
NY Psychoanalysts: The PTI-CFS is recognized by the NYS Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #P-0021.
NY Licensed Psychologists: The PTI-CFS is recognized by the NYS Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provide of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists #PSY-0017.
Psychologists: The CFS is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The CFS maintains responsibility for this program and its content. (DC, MD and VA Psychologist licensing boards accept CE credits provided by an APA approved Sponsor. All other psychologists should check with their licensing boards.)
DC, MD and VA Social Workers: The Social Work Boards of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia will grant continuing education credits to social workers attending a program offered by an APA authorized sponsor.
CE credits will only be granted to participants with documented attendance of the entire program and completed online evaluation form. No partial credit will be offered. It is the responsibility of the participants seeking CE credits to comply with these requirements. Upon completion of this program and online evaluation form, participants will be granted credits.
Important Disclosure Information: None of the planners and presenters of this program have any relevant financial relationships to disclose.
