Between Genet’s Bordello and holy communion : Lacan on comedy in seminar V

This article aalytically reconstructs Lacan's scattered remarks on comedy in Seminar V, turning around his reading of Genet's play the Bordello and Aristophanes' ancient comedies.

Absolute freedom and major structural change

Comments on the contribution of philosopher Slavoj Zizek to the reception of the works of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan in universities. Analysis of philosophy, religion, politics and society; Notion of an act of absolute freedom; Consequences of an act.

One hand clapping: the phoneme and the nothing

In Écrits, Lacan proposes an “unthinkable list” of objects (a) that includes “the phoneme, the gaze, the voice – the nothing”. While the gaze and the voice have received extensive critical commentary, the phoneme and the nothing have gone practically unnoticed. I propose to theoretically construct the object (a) by means of an explication of Lacan’s enigmatic allusion to the phoneme and the nothing. I contend that the phoneme is the “ur-form” of the object (a), whose ontological status is nothing. As the ur-form of the object (a) (both structurally and genetically), the phoneme exemplifies the primary function of the structural causality of the Lacanian Real within the Symbolic Order, namely, the function of the bar resisting signification between signifier and signified. By developing the concept of the object (a) in relation to linguistics, psychoanalysis can reply to the persistent misunderstanding of Lacan’s position by deconstructive critics, such as Judith Butler.

The philosopher's courtly love? Leo Strauss, Eros, and the law

This essay poses a critical response to Strauss' political philosophy that takes as its primary object Strauss' philosophy of Law. It does this by drawing on recent theoretical work in psychoanalytic theory, conceived after Jacques Lacan as another, avowedly non-historicist theory of Law and its relation to eros. The paper has four parts. Part I, `The Philosopher's Desire: Making an Exception, or “The Thing Is...''', recounts Strauss' central account of the complex relationship between philosophy and `the city'. Strauss' Platonic conception of philosophy as the highest species of eros is stressed, which is that aspect of his work which brings it into striking proximity with the Lacanian-psychoanalytic account of the dialectic of desire and the Law. Part II, `Of Prophecy and Law', examines Strauss' analysis of Law as first presented in his 1935 book, Philosophy and Law, and central to his later `rebirth of classical political philosophy'. Part III, `Primordial Repression and Primitive Platonism', is the central part of the paper. Lacan's psychoanalytic understanding of Law is brought critically to bear upon Strauss' philosophy of Law. The stake of the position is ultimately how, for Lacanian psychoanalysis, the Law is transcendental to subjectivity, and has a founding symbolic force, which mitigates against speaking of it solely or primarily in terms of more or less inequitable `rules of thumb', as Plato did. Part IV, `Is the Law the Thing?' then asks the question of what eros might underlie Strauss' paradoxical defense of esoteric writing in the age of `permissive' modern liberalism - that is, outside of the `closed' social conditions which he, above all, alerts us to as the decisive justification for this ancient practice.

Saving human rights from its friends : a critique of the imaginary justice of Costas Douzinas

Costas Douzinas has argued that human rights arise from a universal but unconscious need for recognition of oneself by others as unique and whole. According to Douzinas, humans' activities and interrelationships are determined by their desires and human rights are a manifestation of those same deep characteristics. Because the basic desires are by their nature incapable of being satisfied, the aspiration for human rights is likewise doomed to frustration. Douzinas' analysis of human nature is derived from a reading of Jacques Lacan's theory of psychoanalysis in which an imaginary and a symbolic realm of experience are defined. Douzinas attempts a synthesis between the Lacanian imaginary and the ethical arguments of Emmanuel Levinas. It will be argued here that the synthesis proposed by Douzinas is itself doomed to failure and that Douzinas' negative approach to human rights and to justice should be rejected in favour of a positive approach.

Transference in the nurse-patient relationship

The therapeutic relationship has been considered foundational to psychiatric nursing practice since at least the mid-20th century. However, this does not, in itself, guarantee either its continuity or relevance to current practice. Concepts such as the therapeutic relationship require sustained attention, both in theory and in practice, to illustrate ongoing relevance to the discipline. This paper addresses the therapeutic relationship in psychiatric nursing via aspects of psychoanalytic theory, particularly the notion of transference, as theorized by both Freud and Lacan. Two case fragments provide practice material, through which transference in the nurse–patient relationship is explored. The nurse, in the context of his/her relationship with the patient, a sick stranger, offers both a listening and the potential development of transference. This transference can be experienced, in part, as a form of attachment to the nurse, one that is not regarded pejoratively as dependency. There is the potential, within the nurse–patient relationship, for a psychical holding to develop, one from within which both the patient can speak and transference might arise. It is argued that listening to the patient has the potential to assist the patient and, with the development of transference, can provide the context for important work.

Maistre avec de Sade: Zizek contra de maistre

It is possible to argue that the first world is presently living through a period of radical global reaction against the social democratic consensus of the twentieth century. In this context, the use of Slavoj Zizek's Lacnaian theory of ideology to critique the traditions of thought which inform this reaction becomes a vital task. In this paper, I use Zizek's Lacanian theory of ideology to critically analyse de Maistre's remarkable work: particularly his 'Considerations on France'. Zizek's emphasis on the role of the Real in ideology, it is argued, allows us unique purchase on de Maistre's ideological position. It allows us to show, furthermore, how reactionary conservatism does not 'conserve' the symbolic Other of the discourse of the master, since it is animated by fear and trembling that the symbolic can no longer hold in conditions of secularisation. In this context, the proximity of de Maistre with de Sade emerges as something that goes beyond superficially similar celebrations of the role of violence in human affairs. What is minimally at stake in reactionary thought per se, this paper argues, is the attempt to reground lost authority in the unmediated Real, a procedure in which the laying down of the law verges into the need to divide and sacifice others for the Jouissance of the Other. In this way, Lacan's comment that right-wing intelectuals are knaves who, if pushed, are willing to do whatever it takes to preserve power is vindicated and also elaborated. For De Maistre, the paper shows, was nothing if not a
collosally royal knave

Antinomies of Slavoj Zizek

For the last decade, Slavoj Zizek's provocative and insightful interventions have contested the contemporary abandonment of radical politics and the postmodern retreat from the Enlightenment. Rejecting talk of the "victory of liberalism," Zizek calls for a revolutionary analysis of the connection between multinational capitalism and political subjectivity capable of reconstructing the project of global emancipation. In opposition to postmodern relativism, Zizek positions Lacan not as a postmodern theorist but as an Enlightenment thinker. His Lacanian interpretation of ideology proposes that the missing link in post-Althusserian theories is the unconscious subject, as the unruly by-product of ideological interpellation. Zizek combines this...

Hunting Plato's Agalmata

In this essay I argue that to understand Plato's philosophy, we must understand why Plato presented this philosophy as dialogues: namely, works of literature. Plato's writing of philosophy corresponds to his understanding of philosophy as a transformative way of life, which must nevertheless present itself politically, to different types of people. As a model, I examine Lacan's famous reading of Plato's Symposium in his seminar of transference love in psychoanalysis. Unlike many other readings, Lacan focuses on Alcibiades' famous description of what caused his desire for Socrates: the supposition that beneath Socrates' Silenus-like language and appearance, there were agalmata, treasures, hidden in his belly. I argue that this image of Socrates can also stand as an image for how we ought to read and to teach Plato's philosophy: as harbouring different levels of insight, couched in Plato's philosophy as literature.

Concepts of temporality in the theory of transference

This paper examines the temporal concepts that underlie the theory of transference in psychoanalysis. The paper reviews Freud's rejection of linear temporality as characteristic of unconscious thought in favour of regression, repetition, and deferred action. It then develops concepts drawn from Jacques Lacan's theory of the formation of the ego. Here, the biologically determined helplessness derived from the human prematurity of birth becomes transformed into an ego that anticipates subjective unity. The paper then moves on to the more complex theory of the temporality implied in subject formation, offered in Lacan's later theory of separation. Implications are drawn for the use and understanding of transference in the practice of psychoanalysis via clinical examples. In addition, Lacan's ideas on subject formation are proposed as an extension and clarification of previous psychoanalytic theories of development.

The stabilisation of ego identifications in psychosis

The paper discusses the stabilisation of psychotic fragmentation which can occur in psychoanalytic treatments of patients with psychosis. The paper examines the writing practice of James Joyce with reference to its construction of Joyce as the artist and the manner in which he uses his continuous writing practice to inscribe himself and his name into literary history. The clinical significance of this practice is examined according to the theory of writing as a stabilising symptom, drawing on the work of Jacques Lacan in his later seminars.

The gift of absence

This thesis explores the different readings of sublimation offered by Jacques Lacan and Melanie Klein from the perspective of clinical work and with an emphasis on clinical cases. The distinction Lacan draws between maternal and feminine jouissance is pivotal in explaining the differences in their work.

The profit imperative

This wide-ranging work convincingly argues that a minority can only radically transform a pattern of production and consumption through the commercial sphere of a liberal democracy. In constructing the argument, creative use is made of important works in ontology, social philosophy, political philosophy, sociology, micro-economics and ethics.