Destructive plasticity forms identity through deconstitution, not preservation
Evidence
The development of the preceding points is supported by the hypothesis of destructive plasticity—until now unknown to psychoanalysis but also insufficiently thematized by neurology— that forms the psyche through the deconstitution of identity. — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 202
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines the book’s central neologism: destructive plasticity as deconstitution of identity.
- DEEPTHINKING: This is Malabou’s signature concept — that identity is formed via destruction, overturning both psychoanalytic preservation of the subject and neurological accounts of damage as mere loss.
- XREF: connects to: Personality change is a full disruption of identity — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 493; Destructive plasticity creates new identity precisely through annihilation of the old — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 1495; Plasticity requires the dissolution of the thinking subject rather than its ratiocinative control — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1249 (+11 more)
Broader Connections
- Destructive plasticity creates new identity precisely through annihilation of the old
#corroborates(0.95) — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded, 1495 - Plasticity names the dialectical union of form-seizure and form-annihilation.
#corroborates(0.90) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 247 - Plasticity requires the dissolution of the thinking subject rather than its ratiocinative control
#corroborates(0.80) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 1249 - Plasticity means formative change through rupture, not smooth continuous adaptation
#expands(0.80) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 258 - Brain plasticity includes a capacity to destroy form, not only create it
#expands(0.75) - Subjectivity forms itself across plastic sites rather than pre-existing them
#expands(0.72) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 289