The Thing Never Speaks for Itself: Lacan and the Pedagogical Politics of Clarity

2000 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Sadao Aoki
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory ◽  
Good Teaching ◽  
Complex Materials ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Exclusionary Practices ◽  
Good Writing ◽  
Institutional Demand

In this article, Douglas Sadao Aoki argues that teaching conceived as the translation of complex materials into plain language is actually a refusal to teach. He challenges the commonsensical conviction that good teaching, like good writing, makes its meaning clear and accessible — a thing that speaks for itself. The authority of that conviction, he shows, has elevated the desire for clarity into an institutional demand. Yet, like many other commonsensical convictions and institutional demands, teaching framed by clarity is suspect in its politics and radical in its limitations. Aoki uses the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan, which reveals the suspect exclusionary practices of those pedagogical politics, to show that the love of clear writing turns out to be a hatred of language, a hatred that motivates a refusal to teach. Aoki suggests that the crucial recognition that neither teaching nor language ever speaks for itself is what gives us the chance to refuse the refusal to teach.

scholarly journals From de Clérambault's Theory of Mental Automatism to Lacan's Theory of the Psychotic Structure

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stijn Vanheule
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory ◽  
Structural Approach ◽  
Mental Life ◽  
Clinical Issues ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Lacanian Theory ◽  
Structural Perspective

In 1966, in a paper on those who have influenced his work, Jacques Lacan suggested that his concept of ‘paranoid knowledge’ and his structural approach to psychoanalysis were closely linked to the work of Gaëtan Gatian de Clérambault. This article examines both of these points. Starting with an introduction to de Clérambault, focusing on his concept ‘mental automatism,’ the link between ‘mental automatism’ and ‘paranoid knowledge’ is discussed. Loyalty to Henri Claude and conflicts around theoretical and clinical issues seem to lie at the basis of Lacan's initial neglect of his conceptual indebtedness to de Clérambault. Second, the author discusses the presumed connection between mental automatism and Lacan's structural psychoanalytic theory, which Lacan did not elaborate. It is argued that from a structural perspective, mental automatism comes down to a rupture in the continuity of the signifying chain, which provokes the disappearance of the subject. Furthermore, Lacan's theory implies the hypothesis that manifestations of mental automatism are determined by a foreclosure of the Name-of-the-Father, where questions related to existence cannot be addressed in a stable way. Lacanian theory thus retained de Clérambault's notion of a rupture in mental life that lies at the basis of psychosis, but replaced his biological framework with the dimension of the subject as produced through speech.

scholarly journals The Uncanny in the Themes of Evil, Transgression and the Double in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter"

LETRAS ◽  
2006 ◽  
pp. 33-47
Author(s):  
Esteban Barboza Núñez
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory ◽  
Main Character ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Siglo Xix ◽  
Human Component

El propósito de este artículo consiste en explorar los mecanismos y representaciones de lo siniestro en "La hija de Rappacci" de Nathaniel Hawthome como expresión del mal dentro de los límites del género gótico del siglo XIX; como expresión del tema del doble en tres personajes humanos y en uno no humano que aparecen en el cuento; y como expresión de trasgresión en el personaje principal, Giovanni Guasconte. El concepto de lo siniestro que se usará será el de la teoría psicoanalítica, siguiendo especialmente los aportes de Sigmund Freud y Jacques Lacan. The purpose of this artide is to explore the mechanisms and representations of the uncanny in Nathaniel Hawthome's "Rappaccini's Daughter" as an expression of evil within nineteenth century Gothic boundaries; as an expression of the theme of the double in three human characters and in one non-human component of Rappaccini's garden; and as an expression of transgression in Giovanni Guasconte, the main character. The concept of the uncanny to be used will be that of psychoanalytic theory, especially reliant on the contributions on the topic by Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan.

scholarly journals Mesmerization with the Lights On: Poe’s “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar”

Text Matters ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 353-368
Author(s):  
Robert Tindol
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Slavoj Žižek ◽  
The Sublime ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Insight Into

Edgar Allan Poe’s eerie short story “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” is a particularly noteworthy example of the sublime, a psychological state in which one is overwhelmed by the magnitude of that which is perceived by the mind. Valdemar exemplifies the sublime in that his death has somehow been suspended in time because he was under hypnosis as part of a medical experiment at the moment of his passing. However, the story also draws particular attention to the means by which insight into the nature of death is acquired by the hypnotist who narrates the story. For a more comprehensive understanding of the sublime experience, one may turn to the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan and the postmodernist work of Slavoj Žižek, which lead to the conclusion that the dramatic chain of events in “Valdemar” is an example of the sliding signifier, and, moreover, that the instability of the signifier may explain the sublime effect.

Schopenhauer and Freud

2018 ◽  
pp. 62-82
Author(s):  
Andrew Brook ◽  
Chris Young
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
Phenomenology Of Spirit ◽  
Hegelian Philosophy

This chapter engages in a conversation between two seemingly disparate discourses of Hegelian philosophy and psychoanalytic theory. In the work of Jean Hyppolite, the chapter locates the first use of the term intersubjectivity in relation to Hegel’s theory of recognition as found in Phenomenology of Spirit (1977) and argues that Hyppolite pioneered a mode of thinking about Hegel and psychoanalysis. The chapter traces the transmutation initiated by Hyppolite through the work of Paul Ricouer, Jacques Lacan, Judith Butler, Jessica Benjamin, and others to locate the influence of Hegel’s philosophy on a particular line of psychoanalytic thinking. The author’s reading of Hegel incorporated here argues that the majority of attention paid to the concept of recognition, and its translation into terms of intersubjective relating, has confined it to the episode of the Lord and Bondsman and that further attention should be paid to the drama of the Unhappy Consciousness which follows.

From Recognition to Intersubjectivity: Hegel and Psychoanalysis

2018 ◽  
pp. 44-62
Author(s):  
Molly Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
Phenomenology Of Spirit ◽  
Hegelian Philosophy

This chapter engages in a conversation between two seemingly disparate discourses of Hegelian philosophy and psychoanalytic theory. In the work of Jean Hyppolite, the chapter locates the first use of the term intersubjectivity in relation to Hegel’s theory of recognition as found in Phenomenology of Spirit (1977) and argues that Hyppolite pioneered a mode of thinking about Hegel and psychoanalysis. The chapter traces the transmutation initiated by Hyppolite through the work of Paul Ricouer, Jacques Lacan, Judith Butler, Jessica Benjamin, and others to locate the influence of Hegel’s philosophy on a particular line of psychoanalytic thinking. The author’s reading of Hegel incorporated here argues that the majority of attention paid to the concept of recognition, and its translation into terms of intersubjective relating, has confined it to the episode of the Lord and Bondsman and that further attention should be paid to the drama of the Unhappy Consciousness which follows.

Peeling Back the Layers of Jesus

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-250
Author(s):  
Robert J. Myles
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory

Abstract Employing the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan, this article peels back the various layers of Jesus to reveal … nothing.

Lacan and the Symbolic Function of Evil

2019 ◽  
pp. 208-235
Author(s):  
Gavin Rae
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory ◽  
Symbolic Order ◽  
Symbolic Function ◽  
The Real ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Differential Relations

This chapter shows that Jacques Lacan combines insights from Saussurean linguistics with an innovative reading of Freudian psychoanalytic theory to account for the ways in which meaning is generated from the differential relations between signifiers. Lacan does not offer a theory of evil per se; prior to doing so, he argues that we needed to account for how meaning is created and accounted for this by introducing the three registers of the imaginary, symbolic, and real. By suggesting that ‘evil’ is found at the intersection of what he calls the real and the symbolic, Lacan argues that it needs to be understood as the signifier that aims, but, due to the nature of the Lacanian real, always fails, to designate the non-signifiable real within the symbolic order. ‘Evil’ is then the symbol that stands at the liminal point between the symbolic and the real and designates the ineffable excessive aspect of existence that, because it cannot be comprehended within the symbolic order, is strange, indescribable, and beyond comprehension.

scholarly journals Unspeakable references — On infective states of words and images in the "SHUT DOWN 2020" project

Artnodes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Reiche ◽  
Brigitte Helbling
Keyword(s):  
Sigmund Freud ◽  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory ◽  
The State ◽  
Late Spring ◽  
Visual Elements ◽  
States Of Emergency ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Words And Images ◽  
New Situation

The authors discuss a collective art project, initiated by them during the time of the first COVID-19 shutdown in Europe in late spring 2020. With 58 participants contributing short texts in combination with an image, the collection reflects the specific responses to the new situation. This article investigates the state of the project after its publication by a German online cultural magazine (CulturMag). A fusion of the authors’ expertise, ranging from psychoanalytic theory to literary and performative experimentation, undertakes a tentative deciphering of what lies unrecognised and virulent amidst and in between verbal and visual elements. Reflections on the uncanny, "das Unheimliche" (Sigmund Freud) – as well as "l’extimité" (Jacques Lacan) – connect paradoxical psychic (non-, mis-, over- etc.) representation of the COVID-19 danger with all too well un/known experiences of ongoing states of emergency – touching on their ecological, economical, ideological aspects, tiptoeing perhaps on the windblown tracks of childhood fears? In this way the authors asked the participants, most of them artists and writers, to submit to us something of their lives in the NOW – “no analysis, no commentaries. We've got enough of those. We want to know what is going on inside your rabbit holes" (Helbling/Reiche, 2020) – in order to find 'unspeakable references’ with precision and in abundance.

scholarly journals Gender and name: Towards thinking of the possible in the work of Judith Butler and Sylvain Lazarus

2021 ◽  
pp. 87-105
Author(s):  
Slobodan Golubović
Keyword(s):  
Early Phase ◽  
Jacques Lacan ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theory ◽  
Judith Butler ◽  
The Body ◽  
Critical Studies ◽  
The Status ◽  
Early Phases

Judith Butler analyzes the concepts of name and naming in clear opposition to psychoanalytic theory, as well as structuralist anthropology, in which, starting from the experience of the lesbian position in Willa Cather's prose, she recognizes and exposes patrilineal model of thinking and naming. This line of thought will be shown critique of Sigmund Freud's critical studies regarding the status of the body and erogenity, the dialectic of having and being a phallus in the early phase of Jacques Lacan's work, and examining the question of the imaginary or symbolic status of the phallus in Lacan's work. However, starting from Miller's (Jacques-Alain Miller) reading of Lacan's seminar L'envers de la psychanalyse, in the section "Father's Names," we will reconstruct a radical break in the theory of the late Lacan, both in relation to Freud, but also regarding his own position from the early phases and point to the understanding of names as a place of convergence of the late psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan and the theory of Judith Butler. This will be followed by a discussion of the same problem (names) in the work of the French anthropologist Sylvain Lazarus in an attempt to show how the discussion of this problem can be understood homologously with Butler's reading of Willa Cather's prose. In the following part, we will try to show how late Lacan's theory and Lazarus's Anthropology of the name can provide a fruitful framework for a theoretical dialogue with Judith Butler and a re-examination of traditional conceptions of language and naming.

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