Penthesilea and the Law Before Oedipus
Penthesilea and the Law Before Oedipus
This chapter argues that Kantian Law is philosophically prior rather than an encryption of the Oedipus complex. Its priority is not the fictional priority of that which has abstracted from the biological and psychological desires of the organism. The claim for the priority of the Law rests on Kant's definition of desire. Kantian Law originates in a domain that preexists oedipalization. This is also the domain of Kleist's Penthesilea. The chapter presents a reading of Kantian ethics in conjunction with Kleist's pre-classical tragedy to demonstrate that more is involved here than a play upon Freud's classicist terminology.
Keywords: Kantian Law, Oedipus complex, Heinrich von Kleist, Kantian ethics, moral act, desire
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