





















































Super-Ego after Freud: A Lesson not to Be Forgotten


Elementa
Intersections between Philosophy, Epistemology 
and Empirical Perspectives

1 
(2021) 

1-2

Pierpaolo Limone
Editorial 7

First Section

Slavoj Žižek
The Vagaries of the Superego 13

Ricardo Espinoza Lolas
Nature and Pandemic 33

Paolo Ponzio
Mask and Otherness between Recognition and Concealment: 47 
Notes on the Self and the You

Daniela Savino
“Liquid” Identity and Otherness in the Phenomenon 61 
of Religious Alienation: The Loss of Critical Thinking 
and the “Barter” of the Self in the System of Communion

Francesca R. Recchia Luciani
The Sexistential Vulnerability of Bodies in Contact 85 
in the Philosophy of Jean-Luc Nancy

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Elementa. Intersections between Philosophy, Epistemology and Empirical Perspectives

Second Section

Martina Rossi
Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Teaching: 103 
Future Perspectives

Marco Ceccarelli
A Historical Account on Italian Mechanism Models 115

Giusi Antonia Toto - Alessia Scarinci
Cyberfeminism: A Relationship between Cyberspace, 135 
Technology, and the Internet

Luigi Traetta - Federica Doronzo
Super-Ego after Freud: A Lesson not to Be Forgotten 153

Federica Doronzo - Gianvito Calabrese
Functioning of Declarative Memory: Intersection 163 
between Neuropsychology and Mathematics

Giuliana Nardacchione - Guendalina Peconio
Peer Tutoring and Scaffolding Principle for Inclusive Teaching 181

Elementa. Intersections between Philosophy, Epistemology and Empirical Perspectives – 1 (2021) 1-2 
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153

Super-Ego after Freud: A Lesson 
not to Be Forgotten
Luigi Traetta 

1 - Federica Doronzo 
2

1 Università degli Studi di Foggia (Italy)
2 Learning Science hub, Università degli Studi di Foggia (Italy)

doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.7358/elem-2021-0102-trdo
luigi.traetta@unifg.it
federica.doronzo@unifg.it

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to retrace the evolution of the super-ego, in psychoanalysis and 
phenomenology, describing its effects on education, starting with the formation of indi-
vidual morality. In the broadest sense, the reflection concerns not only the role that the 
family can play in this direction, but above all the contribution that schools can make to 
the formation of individual morality. The structuring of the super-ego is thus built up in 
the family system by being influenced by the socio-educational environment. The impor-
tance of a healthy structuring of the super-ego emerges in the increased risk of alteration 
of the intersubjective sphere, in cases of dysregulation of the super-ego, a process that is 
fundamental to psychotic disorder. 

Keywords: education; socio-educational environment; super-ego.

Introduction

In 1914, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of 
the high school he had attended as an adolescent, Freud wrote a short essay 
entitled “Zur Psychologie des Gymnasiasten”. Taking his cue from personal 
recollections, Freud dwelled on the ambivalent relationship that bound 
the high school pupil to the professors and underlined its importance for 
individual development, since this relationship occurred at the stage when 
“the child begins to come out of the nursery” and “discovers things that 

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undermine his original adiration for his father” (Freud, 1914, p. 480). 
The professor, in short, becomes for the high school student the substitute 
of the omniscient father, capable of arousing love and hate, criticism and 
veneration, in a confused mixture of affectionate and hostile impulses. 

Freud’s reflection shows a stringent coherence provided, however, 
that it is contextualised in the historical period in which it takes place, 
in a period, that is, during which the father figure has a series of defined 
characteristics, starting from the one known to have passed into history as 
the main architect in the formation of the super-ego. 

There is a vast scientific literature on the function of the super-ego 
and its relationship with the development of individual morality which, 
starting with Freud’s contribution, identifies a series of main stages that 
mark the history of this controversial category. The debate, of course, has 
come down to the present day and reinterprets the super-ego in the light of 
the profound changes that have affected society and the role of the family 
in recent years. 

The aim of this paper is to retrace the evolution of the super-ego, 
describing its repercussions on education, starting from the formation of 
individual morality. In a broader sense, the reflection concerns not only the 
role that the family can play in this direction, but above all the contribu-
tion that schools can make to the formation of individual morality. Extrap-
olating the Freudian thesis, can the teacher – this is the key question of 
the essay – in some way represent the substitute of the omniscient father? 
The answer concerns not only the figure of the father in contemporary 
society, but above all the role that the teacher can play in contributing to 
the construction of individual morality. 

1. Structuring of the super-ego

Freud, in his search for a psychological science, introduced the “structural 
theory” in 1920 in his essay Jenseits des Lustprinzips. This second topo-
logical coordinate divides the psychic apparatus into three psychic agen-
cies: id, ego and super-ego; the intention is to measure the operations 
that unfold in the psychic sphere. The theorised mental functioning is 
based on the organism’s adaptation to the environment: from the drive 
core (id) there is an organised psychic agency (ego), responsible for surface 
psychic functions, such as perception and memory, and then in the course 
of development the super-ego is structured. This last psychic agency, in 
Freud’s sense, indicates that part of the mind that controls and modifies 
the antisocial instincts deriving from the id to adapt them to the demands 

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of the environment. Super-ego develops through the internalisation of 
values and moral norms first from the parents and then from the environ-
ment. The functions of the super-ego are defence and reward, and criticism 
and punishment (Lis, Stella, & Zavattini, 1999). The structural model 
encourages further research and investigation, in the following generations 
of psychoanalysts, inaugurating new meanings of the super-ego. If Freud 
theorised its structuring just before school age, when the child assimilates 
parental values and cultural customs, Klein (1963) places its origin at a 
very young age in association with parental punishment and identifies it 
as a bad object - self introjected due to a lack of maternal containment of 
the child’s projective identifications; Fairbairn (1944) gave greater weight 
to object relations and refuted the concept of the death instinct by intro-
ducing the term internal saboteur; Otto Kernberg (1975) described various 
pathological formations of the super-ego, on the basis of which he differ-
entiated between the various types of personality disorders; in conclusion 
we quote Bion who introduced the ego-destructive super-ego understood as 
“morals without morals” that dominate the psychotic part of the person-
ality (Weiss, 2020). 

The foundations for understanding psychopathology and psychosis in 
particular are laid. In 1932 Freud clearly defines the relationships between 
the psychic agencies and theorises the processes characterising psychotic 
disorder: the pleasure principle and the function of Ideal, fulfilled respec-
tively by the id and the super-ego, deconstruct the function of concilia-
tion of the ego that detaches itself from reality. The cause may be either 
the overpowering of the unconscious repressed on the conscious or the 
tormenting and pressing reality that pushes the ego to embrace only the 
unconscious drives. The needs of the species (id) and the needs of society 
(super-ego) therefore dissolve the ego by suppressing any space for media-
tion between the two conflicting forces generating psychosis (Galimberti, 
2018). Since Freud, numerous scholars have contributed to the defini-
tion of the nature and role of the super-ego, and of the internal psychic 
conflicts, which determine the aetiology of psychotic symptoms. In this 
debate there are two models, the phenomenological and the psychoana-
lytical, between which the concept of the experienced world builds a bridge 
of reconciliation (Rossi Monti, 1999): although the first approach is based 
on datum of awareness and the second on unconscious mechanisms, both 
share the generative processes of psychosis and the objective to be pursued 
for healing. 

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2. Deconstruction of the super-ego: from the onset 
of psychosis to the process of mirroring in the other

The concept, introduced by Freud, of the conflict between the super-
ego and the ego, which produces a feeling of anguish with a destructive 
valence, is the fulcrum of Kleinian theorizing on evolutionary develop-
ment. Precisely in the psychic dynamics traced by the psychoanalyst it is 
possible to identify the foundations for understanding psychosis. 

In healthy psychic development the passage from the schizo-paranoid 
position to the depressive one determines a process of maturation of the 
super-ego breaking the vicious circle of heterodirected and self-directed 
destructiveness. Otherwise, the failure to develop the super-ego leads to 
the structuring of a dysfunctional psychic agency that colonises the mind, 
leading it towards a loss of contact with reality. The dominance of the 
super-ego prevents the balance with the experience of the world and attacks 
the emotional ties with the Other (De Masi, 2002). Klein considers the 
super-ego in this case as a bad object - self introjected in response to a lack of 
maternal care (Klein, 1940). The failure of the first object relations and the 
mother’s refusal to accept the child’s first projective identifications generate 
a super-ego that develops before the ego, opposing growth, vitality and 
infantile curiosity (Bion, 1959). The failure to regulate each other produces 
organismic anguish, which is why the sense of self becomes discontinuous. 

A failed structuring of the super-ego is associated with an increased 
risk of psychopathologies, in particular Rosenfeld (1971) and Meltzer 
(1973) consider this process to be the origin of psychosis, perversion and 
narcissism. In the aetiology of psychosis, we observe a dysfunctional struc-
turing of the three psychic agencies determined by a loss of integration 
and synthesis of the ego. This impairment thus originates from regression 
or fixation on the schizo-paranoid position in which the ego was not inte-
grated but separated into settling nuclei. 

The subject, however, reacts to the disintegration of the ego and 
brings into play psychotic restitution (positive and negative symptoms iden-
tified as signs of the illness) which is a constructive process that testifies to 
the tendency towards recovery (Freud, 1914). Restitution is the reorganisa-
tion of the ego and the super-ego in order to survive the psychic defeat 
and to give an internal coherence to the ego following a subjective logic 
far from that of common sense. Paradoxically, the mind survives precisely 
because of a lack of discrimination between subject and object, ego and 
non-ego (Bleger, 1970). The confusion between the inner and outer worlds 
is generated by the stationing in the schizo-paranoid phase that does not 
allow access to healthy and mature defence mechanisms aimed at relieving 

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anguish, and involves an intense and frequent use of primitive defences 
such as splitting, projective identification, projection and denial. The lack 
of ego integration thus structures a pathological self (Winnicott, 1960) 
that generates a neoreality. Freud and later psychoanalysts agreed with the 
theorisation of a conflict between environment and psychic processes, 
which generates a state of disintegration of the ego and a destructive domi-
nation of the super-ego. The resulting compromise for psychic survival is 
the formation of a subjective reality. 

The super-ego in excess is incompatible with inter-human relations 
because the guilt in excess takes on the character of internal persecution 
by promoting acts of destruction. The blocking of the evolution towards 
the benevolent super-ego generates a distortion of reality replaced by fanta-
sies that edify the delusional state. There is a destruction of the subject’s 
communicative function, the loss of his capacity for self-observation, 
awareness of his mental processes and the possibility of managing his 
emotions. Consequently, the sense of reality and the balance of personal 
identity are compromised (De Masi, 2002). 

This is the background to the phenomenological approach, whose 
field of research is no longer the unconscious but the datum of awareness. 
The aim is to study neo-reality, derived from psychotic restitution, which 
rejects natural evidence, leading the patient to construct subjective meanings 
that are not conventionally accepted. The object of study is therefore the 
patient’s conscious psychic happening in order to recognise and understand 
him (Jaspers, 1959). This means starting from the patient’s self-narrative 
to co-construct the intersubjective space that mediates differentiation from 
the Otherness of the Other. Re-founding the functional infant-caregiver 
relationship means repairing the affective deficiencies that have destruc-
tured the psychic psychic agencies (Ballerini, 2011). The natural evidence, 
therefore the common sense of the everyday world, can be reconstructed in 
the intersubjectivity. The insufficiency in the intra-subjective construction 
of the Self corresponds to a problem in the inter-subjective construction. 

The phenomenological model, in line with the psychoanalytic 
theorisation of the onset of psychosis, proposes a concrete approach that 
starts from the contents of consciousness in order to reconstruct the lost 
psychic balance. According to this approach the disintegration of the ego 
and the paranoid dimension of the persecutor determine the failure of the 
ego in its movement towards the Other preventing the construction of the 
natural self. The psychotic subject therefore folds in on himself, replacing 
reality with hyper-reflexivity that perpetuates wandering in a world that is 
foreign to him (Ballerini & Di Petta, 2015). The healthy super-ego uses 
human nature’s natural predisposition to sociality to produce a collective 

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consensus on a socially accepted order. The deconstruction of the super-
ego, on the other hand, leads to a compromised identification with the 
Other and a destructive persecutory anguish. This interpretation is in line 
with the phenomenological interpretation according to which reality is 
only that imposed by the majority and the loss of this foreknowledge breaks 
the balance of the ego determining a reinvention of reality and an exclusion 
from human relations. In this regard, Di Petta writes: “Il folle disobbedisce 
allo spirito del tempo” (Di Petta, 2018, p. 162). 

The being with of the therapist with the patient can repair the fracture 
of the ego accompanying the subject to the implicit rediscovery of his own 
identity. The process of epochè implemented by the therapist, understood 
as the loss of common sense, can generate a contact with the patient by 
mediating an encounter between I and You and thus inaugurating the 
construction of the We (Di Petta, 2018). The truth deprived of the idios 
kosmos (own world) can reopen to the Mit-einandersein (being-one-with-
other) by reconnecting to reality. The instrument to lead the subject to 
the restructuring of psychic agencies is the understanding that gives him 
dignity and legitimacy (Stanghellini, 2008). The therapist performs the 
maternal functions by valuing and empathically welcoming the other, thus 
mediating a re-implementation of the evolutionary process of the ego and 
a restructuring of the super-ego. The mirroring of the sick person in the 
Other allows a re-appropriation of the self by redefining the boundaries of 
ego and non-ego, entering into a reciprocal relationship means “riconoscere 
l’esistenza degli altri in quanto esseri dotati di una mente sostanzialmente 
simile alla propria” (Stanghellini, 2008, p. 85). Returning to Klein’s initial 
vision, the therapeutic project outlined is reconciled with her objective of 
healing the patient by overcoming the schizo-paranoid position towards 
the depressive one: the subject splits ego and world and becomes aware 
of the impossibility of omnipotent control over the object, which is now 
perceived as more real and separate. The individual can take personal 
responsibility and perceive himself and the other as separate. 

3. At school of… super-ego

Structuring and de-structuring of the superego, with the enormous theo-
retical and psychopathological burden that they entail, allow us to intro-
duce the reflection on the role that education could play in the processes of 
formation of the individual. 

The real educational emergency that characterises the contemporary 
school, brings back to the centre of reflection the concepts of standards, 

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rules and procedures (D’Alonzo, 2017) to be used in the management of 
the class group, also as an initial moment of the formative pact. Rules, in 
particular, even by education professionals, have been the subject of several 
prejudices, among which the most typical can be summarised as follows:
• addressing the issue of rules, during teaching activities, necessarily 

implies a waste of time with respect to planned objectives and contents;
• discussing rules is completely pointless because pupils only respect them 

if they are threatened;
• pupils do not like teachers who enforce the rules. 

However, the reality appears to be quite different, as a number of 
recent studies tend to show: in schools, the question of rules has now 
become so central that it has a profound effect on the classroom climate 
(Zobbi, 2021). And it could not be otherwise. 

Conclusion

Especially in the light of the renewed perspective that sees, nowadays, 
the paternal figure on an equal footing with the mother in the process of 
bringing up children, the structuring of the super-ego takes on consider-
able value. In the society Freud had in mind, the father was essentially an 
absent figure from the growth path of children and the educational role was 
limited to a set of commands and punishments. The father model today is 
decidedly oriented towards the attachment relationship whose direct and 
indirect effects on the development of the individual are undeniable. The 
role of all members of the family and society in the structuring of the self 
and the pivotal role of the super-ego in the origin of mental disorders and 
discomforts was thus rediscovered. 

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Riassunto

Obiettivo del presente contributo è ripercorrere l’evoluzione del super-io, in ambito psi-
coanalitico e fenomenologico, descrivendone le ricadute, a partire dalla formazione della 
morale individuale, in campo educativo. La riflessione riguarda, in senso lato, non solo 
il ruolo che la famiglia può svolgere in questa direzione, ma soprattutto il contributo 
che la scuola può fornire nella formazione della morale individuale. La strutturazione 
del super-io si edifica quindi nel sistema-famiglia subendo le influenze dell’ambiente 
socio-educativo. L’importanza di una strutturazione sana del super-io emerge nell’au-
mento del rischio di alterazione della sfera intersoggettiva, nei casi di disregolazione del 
super-io, processo fondante il disturbo psicotico. 

Copyright (©) 2021 Luigi Traetta, Federica Doronzo 
Editorial format and graphical layout: copyright (©) LED Edizioni Universitarie

 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to cite this paper:
Traetta, L., & Doronzo, F. (2021). Super-ego after Freud: A lesson not to be forgotten. 
Elementa. Intersections between Philosophy, Epistemology and Empirical Perspectives, 1(1-2), 
153-161. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.7358/elem-2021-0102-trdo

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	Elementa_1-2021-1-2_00b_Sommario.pdf
	Editorial
	Pierpaolo Limone

	First Section
	The Vagaries of the Superego
	Slavoj Žižek
	Nature and Pandemic

	Ricardo Espinoza Lolas
	Mask and Otherness
between Recognition and Concealment: Notes on the Self and the You

	Paolo Ponzio
	“Liquid” Identity and Otherness
in the Phenomenon of Religious
Alienation: The Loss of Critical
Thinking and the “Barter” of the Self in the System of Communion

	Daniela Savino
	The Sexistential Vulnerability of Bodies in Contact in the Philosophy
of Jean-Luc Nancy

	Francesca R. Recchia Luciani

	Second Section
	Universal Design for Learning
and Inclusive Teaching: Future
Perspectives
	Martina Rossi
	A Historical Account on Italian
Mechanism Models

	Marco Ceccarelli
	Cyberfeminism: A Relationship
between Cyberspace, Technology,
and the Internet

	Giusi Antonia Toto 1 - Alessia Scarinci 2
	Super-Ego after Freud: A Lesson
not to Be Forgotten

	Luigi Traetta 1 - Federica Doronzo 2
	Functioning of Declarative Memory: Intersection between Neuropsychology and Mathematics

	Federica Doronzo 1 - Gianvito Calabrese 2
	Peer Tutoring and Scaffolding
Principle for Inclusive Teaching

	Giuliana Nardacchione - Guendalina Peconio





