Science Matinee is a series of discussion events for members of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. The June Science Matinee will be held at the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters in Helsinki (Mariankatu 5 A, 2nd floor) on June 17 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., featuring a talk by Elisabeth Lunbeck, a professor of history at Harvard University. Commentary by Academician of Science Martti Koskenniemi.
Understanding the Authoritarian Leader’s Narcissistic Appeal: The Case of Donald Trump
Thousands of articles and news items over the past decade have attempted to make sense of Donald Trump’s narcissism, casting it as a serious liability and politically fatal flaw. My focus in this presentation is different, arguing that we can only comprehend his enduring political hegemony by understanding his narcissism not as a liability but as a resource and remarkable asset. Situating Trump’s deployment of his narcissism in historical as well as contemporaneous construals of the personality disposition, and considering writings in both professional and popular venues, I suggest we should shift our focus from appalled detailing of his narcissistic traits to looking at—and theorizing—how he mobilizes them to connect with his loyal followers and acolytes.
Bio
Elizabeth Lunbeck is Professor and Chair of the Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, where she teaches courses on psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and psychotherapy. She is the author of 3 books, including The Psychiatric Persuasion: Knowledge, Gender, and Power in Modern America and The Americanization of Narcissism, and the co-editor of 4 additional volumes. She has trained as a psychoanalyst and is presently writing a book entitled The Therapist: A Short History from Freud to ChatGPT.
Registration
Please register through this link by June 10th: https://acadsci.fi/tiedematinea/
For more information, contact Säde Kunnas: sade.kunnas@acadsci.fi / ph. +358 50 433 8636