The normal and the pathological: drive and anomie in Freud and Canguilhem’s biology

Abstract

This article develops a theoretical and conceptual analysis of the notions of the normal and the pathological in the works of Sigmund Freud and Georges Canguilhem. We investigate how the biological sciences, as present in the writings of these two authors, allow for the reading and interpretation of these notions. The interpretation of anatomopathological and physiopathological identities made it possible to understand dimensions of psychopathology through quantitative differences, which presuppose a certain inertia of normativity grounded in anatomical realism. For Freud, this reading was especially shaped by the influence of Fechner’s psychophysics and the mechanistic biology of his time. Although the psychoanalyst initially relied on this mechanistic framework, a later shift toward an evolutionary biology can be observed. In recovering Freud’s evolutionary biology, we seek to do so through dialogue with Canguilhem’s vitalist biology, which allows us to distance ourselves from anatomical realism. Through a critical and interpretive review of mechanistic and evolutionary biology in Freud’s work, as well as the notion of vitalist biology in Georges Canguilhem, the central aim of this article is to reflect on the interpretation of the notions of anomie and drive, in order to overcome the traditional anatomical and physiological rigidity and to reinterpret the concepts of the normal and the pathological. We conclude that, through Canguilhem’s vitalist interpretation of biology, Freud’s death drive can be understood as enabling a normative mobility between the normal and the pathological.