SIMONE BERNARDETE FERNANDES

This research investigates the reception of the concept of the death drive in Dialectic of Enlightenment, seeking to explain the origins, senses and developments of the approximation of the conceptions of mimesis and death drive in this work, based on an interpretation of the anthropologist Roger Cailllois’ reading of the Freudian formulation. Our aim is to elucidate the structural character of mimesis as a death drive in this work, which grants it the status of a key to analyzing both psychic and cognitive issues that threaten the emancipatory orientation of enlightenment. To this end, it is essential to trace the path of the reception of psychoanalysis by Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, starting from a conflict, made evident by Freud himself, between psychoanalysis and Marxism. By outlining how this conflict can be overcome, we move on to the formulation of a dialectical anthropology that characterizes the Dialectic of Enlightenment. We then follow the path of mimesis and enlightenment in mutual relation and the late consequences of this process. The reference to concepts drawn from Freudian metapsychology that border this discussion allows us to understand the role of repetition in this work, represented as a principle of immanence, limiting the possibilities and horizon of enlightened thought.