The birth of the third object: Wolfgang Loch and his contemporary Eugenio Gaddini, G. Jappe

Loch and Gaddini, the same age, both teachers in their own societies, promoting psychoanalytic thinking in the international scene, developed, during the seventies and each on his own, a theory on the fathering functioning during infancy. This paper deals with the analogies (especially based on the case of 'Little Hans') and of course with the differences of both theories. For both of the autors it's important to establish a triadic structure in the analytic process: but for Gaddini this structure derives from a differentiation within the maternal object, whereas for Loch the father enters the scene from outside, thus rendering less threatening the relationship with the primary archaic object. This opposite view results from the difference between a genetic-empirical viewpoint and a structural-philosofical conceptualization.