Essays in scientific synthesis / by Eugenio Rignano.

  • Eugenio Rignano
Date:
[1918]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Essays in scientific synthesis / by Eugenio Rignano. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    that of transference (Ribot), which is also itself essen¬ tially mnemic, and by which all other affectivities are derived from those of direct mnemic origin, and thus come to have an indirect mnemic origin. For by the fundamental mnemic property, already frequently mentioned, of the substitution of a part for the whole, it happens that mere parts or fragments of given environmental relations, which at first were striven for in their totality, or “ analogous ” environ¬ mental relations, i.e. resembling only partly those desired, or again environmental relations constituting the “ means ” adapted to the attainment of an “ end/' and being therefore its necessary precursors, or finally environmental relations always accompanying that “ end ”—all evoke the affectivity of this original “ end.” This affectivity is thus “ transferred ” from the whole to the part. And this affectivity for the part is then strengthened because this partial relation, which at first is sought as a “ substitute ” for the whole, becomes in its turn an habitual environmental relation, hence¬ forth desired or sought for its own sake, quite apart from the original affective “ transference.” This is what has happened, as I have already shown, with respect to the copulation of the two sexes, in so far as it is the habitual means of getting rid of the germinal substance, and also with regard to the secondary sexual relations as phenomena usually accompanying this copulation. The “ conquest ” of the opposite sex, in its turn a necessary means for the satisfaction of sexual hunger or appetite, finally becomes with some individuals an end in itself. As cases in point we have seduction for the sake of seduc-
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