THE PRINCIPLE OF POWER. POWERLESSNESS, OMNIPOTENCE, REPUDIATION, FROM ANTIGONE TO CLINIC

Abstract

The striving for power, designed by Adler as what pushes man to live and to dominate, is seen here as the individual translation of a more general "principle of power", which, along with the "principle of reproduction”, is considered the evolution of species basic law. Starting from these biological considerations some concepts like powerlessness, omnipotence and repudiation are analyzed. The latter concept, in particular, according to the author's clinical experience, takes on considerable importance.
Principle of power and repudiation, therefore, are proposed as two specific concepts for theory and practice of individual psychology. Classical antiquity has brought us some tragedies of Sophocles that corroborate this analysis: in particular, Antigone, which is discussed in this article, and Oedipus Rex, but on condition that this drama, too, is read in relational sense, instead of the instinctual sense, made cunningly by Freud