Psychoanalysis as knowledge-power. On the functionalism of Foucault and his critique of the Oedipus Complex

Abstract

This paper presents an exhaustive and unprecedented reconstruction of Michel Foucualt's critique to psychoanalytic theory of the Oedipus Complex. This reconstruction tries to establish that the critique developed by Foucault would entail the use of a social functionalist framework. From this perspective, it could be affirmed that methodological fundaments of Foucault's critique requires, as a prerequisite, a functionalist conception of society. Finally, the results of this research attempts to interrogate some debates related to the reflexive processes inside the psychoanalytic field as in the critical theory of the foucaultian orientation.