This paper defends the thesis that a mandatory equality will lead to intolerance. From a psychoanalytic point of view, this can be explained by the fact that the level of equality is measured according to the amount and quality of pleasure. Intolerance is a factor in mainly two situations: one is either reduced to an object of pleasure for the other, or confronted with a pleasure of a different quality than one's own. A mandatory equality is structurally impossible and therefore offers no solution. Instead, the author proposes a differentiation that is symbolically determined, based on a conventional, agreed upon set of rules. In this context, the two main differentiations are exactly those that are developed in the oedipal phase: differentiation in gender and in generation. Ignoring these differentiations implicates a return to pre-oedipal relations, with all of its issues.
psychoanalytic therapy, experiential therapy, narcistic defence, postmodern type
The tPeP (Journal Person-centered experiential Psychotherapy) is the scientific journal for Dutch and Flemish psychotherapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists, that work from, or are interested in a client-centered perspective.