In this thesis the author focuses on the role that the father plays in the development of the pshychic aparatus, as described by Sigmund Freud and examines his theory with the help of insights into the working of the unconscious, provided by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari in their book Anti-Oedipus. The father figure is most evidently connected with the emergence of the Superego. The mechanism, by which this psychic agent comes to be, has everything to do with the Oedipus complex and familial representations which, according to Freud, occupy a central part in the workings of the unconscious. Deleuze and Guattari develop the theory of the three syntheses of the unconscious, with which they try to form a thorough critique of the Oedipus complex and its place within the psychoanalytic theory. With the help of these syntheses they show that the representations of whole persons (like mother and father) are not part of the basic workings of the unconscious, but are formed as a result of the environment in which the unconscious is developing – i.e. - the nuclear family. Freud` theory was not able to account for this connection. Considering the conditions posed by capitalism and the nuclear family, Deleuze and Guattari explain the process that leads to the development of the Oedipus complex and the emergence of familial representations.
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