Évariste Galois
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Évariste Galois |
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|---|---|
| Born | 25 October 1811 |
| Died | 31 May 1832 |
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Theoretical Profile |
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| Tradition | French mathematics, posthumous influence on psychoanalytic theory |
| Relation to Freud / Lacan |
Referenced by Lacan; symbolic figure in psychoanalytic discourse |
| Contributions | Mathematical theory of groups; symbol of the subject in psychoanalytic theory |
Évariste Galois (25 October 1811 – 31 May 1832) was a French mathematician whose brief but influential career has resonated far beyond mathematics, notably within psychoanalytic theory and French intellectual culture. Though not a psychoanalyst or clinician, Galois's life and work have been appropriated by psychoanalytic thinkers, especially Jacques Lacan, as emblematic of the subject's relation to knowledge, the symbolic order, and the structure of the unconscious. His mathematical innovations, particularly in group theory, have served as metaphors and structural models within psychoanalytic discourse, making him a significant cultural figure in the history of psychoanalysis.
Biography
Education and Early Career
Évariste Galois was born in Bourg-la-Reine, France, in 1811. He demonstrated precocious mathematical talent during his adolescence, attending the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Galois's early exposure to mathematics was marked by both brilliance and conflict; he reportedly found the standard curriculum uninspiring and was drawn instead to advanced mathematical texts, particularly those concerning algebraic equations.[1] His attempts to enter the École Polytechnique were unsuccessful, possibly due to his unconventional approach and temperament.
Institutional Affiliations
Galois's formal institutional affiliations were limited, owing in part to his contentious relationship with academic authorities. He eventually enrolled at the École Normale (then called the École Préparatoire), where he continued his mathematical investigations. However, his political activism during the turbulent years of the July Revolution (1830) led to his expulsion and subsequent imprisonment.[2]
Key Turning Points
The most significant turning point in Galois's intellectual life was the development of what would later be called Galois theory, a revolutionary approach to the solvability of polynomial equations. His manuscripts, submitted to the Academy of Sciences, were initially misunderstood or lost, a fate that contributed to the mythos surrounding his life and death. Galois died at the age of 20, the result of wounds sustained in a duel, under circumstances that have fueled both historical and psychoanalytic speculation.[3]
Engagement with Psychoanalysis
Though Évariste Galois lived before the advent of psychoanalysis, his figure has been retrospectively integrated into psychoanalytic theory, especially in the French context. Jacques Lacan frequently invoked Galois as a paradigmatic figure for the subject's encounter with the symbolic order and the logic of the signifier.[4] Lacan drew analogies between Galois's mathematical innovations—particularly the concept of the group and the structure of algebraic solutions—and the structure of the unconscious as articulated in psychoanalytic theory.[5]
Galois's tragic biography, marked by precocity, conflict with authority, and an untimely death, has also been interpreted psychoanalytically as emblematic of the "subject supposed to know" and the fate of the subject in relation to knowledge and desire. His work and persona have thus become touchstones in psychoanalytic discussions of creativity, the limits of knowledge, and the symbolic function of mathematics.[6]
Theoretical Contributions
Mathematical Structures and the Symbolic Order
Galois's principal mathematical contribution, the theory of groups, has been appropriated by psychoanalytic theorists as a model for the symbolic order. In Lacanian psychoanalysis, the symbolic is the domain of language, law, and structure, organizing the subject's experience and desire. Galois's demonstration that the solvability of equations depends on the structure of their symmetry groups provided a powerful metaphor for the way the symbolic order structures the unconscious.[7] Lacan's references to Galois underscore the importance of formalization and structure in psychoanalytic theory.
The Subject and the Real of Mathematics
Lacan also used Galois as an exemplar of the subject's encounter with the "real" of mathematics—a domain that resists symbolization and mastery. Galois's inability to secure recognition for his work during his lifetime, and the posthumous reconstruction of his manuscripts, have been read as allegories for the psychoanalytic subject's relation to knowledge, lack, and the Other.[8] This reading situates Galois at the intersection of the symbolic and the real, a position that psychoanalysis identifies as structurally traumatic.
The Myth of the Genius and the Death Drive
The mythologization of Galois as a doomed genius has been a subject of psychoanalytic reflection, particularly in relation to the concept of the death drive. Galois's self-destructive trajectory, culminating in a fatal duel, has been interpreted as an enactment of the compulsion to repeat and the pursuit of an impossible object.[9] Psychoanalytic theorists have thus used Galois to explore the relationship between creativity, destruction, and the limits of subjectivity.
Transmission, Recognition, and the Function of the Name
Another significant theme in psychoanalytic appropriations of Galois concerns the transmission of knowledge and the function of the name. Galois's work was recognized only after his death, and his name became a signifier for a new mathematical field. Lacan and others have drawn on this history to discuss the psychoanalytic function of naming, legacy, and the transmission of desire across generations.[10]
Clinical and Institutional Work
Évariste Galois was not a clinician and did not participate in psychoanalytic institutions. However, his legacy has been institutionalized within French psychoanalytic and philosophical circles, particularly through the work of Lacan and his followers. Galois's mathematical concepts have been integrated into the curriculum of Lacanian training and have influenced the theoretical orientation of several psychoanalytic schools in France.[11]
Influence and Legacy
Galois's influence on psychoanalysis is indirect but profound. Through Lacan, his work has shaped the discourse of the École freudienne de Paris and subsequent Lacanian institutions. The use of mathematical models, particularly group theory, in psychoanalytic theory owes much to Galois's innovations. His figure has also inspired debates about the relationship between science and psychoanalysis, the limits of formalization, and the role of the subject in the production of knowledge.[12]
Galois's legacy extends to contemporary psychoanalytic and philosophical discussions of the subject, the symbolic, and the real. He has been cited by figures such as Alain Badiou, who further developed the relationship between mathematics and psychoanalysis.[13] The debates provoked by Galois's appropriation in psychoanalysis continue to inform discussions of interdisciplinarity and the boundaries of psychoanalytic theory.
Key Publications
- Mémoire sur les conditions de résolubilité des équations par radicaux (1832) – Galois's principal mathematical memoir, laying the foundations for group theory and the modern theory of equations. Though not psychoanalytic, this work has been extensively referenced in psychoanalytic theory for its structural innovations.
- Lettres à Auguste Chevalier (1832) – A series of letters written shortly before Galois's death, containing autobiographical reflections and mathematical insights. These letters have been interpreted psychoanalytically as expressions of the subject's relation to knowledge and mortality.
- Fragments mathématiques (posthumous) – Collected mathematical fragments, published after Galois's death, which contributed to the construction of his posthumous legend and the psychoanalytic myth of the genius.
See also
References
- ↑ Bell, Eric Temple (1937). Men of Mathematics. pp. 367–385.
- ↑ Livio, Mario (2005). The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved. pp. 45–60.
- ↑ Gray, Jeremy (1986). Linear Differential Equations and Group Theory from Riemann to Poincaré. pp. 12–15.
- ↑ SEMINARXX (Work not recognized)
- ↑ Écrits (1966), p. 141
- ↑ Le Rider, Jacques (1993). Modernity and Crises of Identity: Culture and Society in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna. pp. 201–202.
- ↑ Écrits (1966), p. 142
- ↑ SEMINARXX (Work not recognized)
- ↑ Roudinesco, Élisabeth (1997). Jacques Lacan. pp. 312–314.
- ↑ Écrits (1966), p. 143
- ↑ Milner, Jean-Claude (1981). Le périple structural. pp. 88–90.
- ↑ Dosse, François (1997). History of Structuralism, Vol. 1. pp. 210–213.
- ↑ Badiou, Alain (1988). Being and Event. pp. 11–13.