System and Structure—Essays in Communication and Exchange

Concept and object conceptualized are related — but never by equation. For Freud, the “thing presentation” and “word presentation” coexist in the mind to mediate the relationship. The thing presentation alienated from the word presentation is trapped in the unconscious and so is once more removed. For Marx, appearance mediates between knowledge and reality. Appearance bound in ideology is, too, once more removed. These mediating links display striking parallels in the work of Freud and Marx. The objects of investigation differ—intrapsychic dynamics vs. social productive relations—but only as aspects of the same reality. Unlike the wise men studying the elephant, Freud and Marx are not blind to the rest of the beast.