Philippe Gutton : parenthood

The concept of parenthood is distinguished from that of kinship as studied by doctors and anthropologists. It defines an original psychical work that the author posits as a creative process. The experience of parenthood is developed as the primary narcissism from an archaic, enigmatic un-creatable, in order to engage in Oedipal conflict ; a creation in which filiation and affiliation are in play. Individual work is incited and limited by the experience of the biological parents and by the child himself, engaged in his original self-creation. The mission of third-party parentalization is to free itself from fantasmatic and acted conflict, in order to raise, in day-to-day conduct and speech, the question of the unconscious of each member of the family and the family group.