Difference between revisions of "Jacques Lacan:The Subject of the Unconscious"

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=Introduction=
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THE UNCONSCIOUS AS GAP OR RUPTURE
  
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In Seminar XI (1964) Lcan sought to distinguish his own conception of the unconscious from Freud's and more systematically formualte what is ''beyond'' language and structure.
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The [[unconscious]] must "be apprehended in its [[experience]] of rupture, between [[perception]] and [[consciousness]], in that [[time|nontemporal locus]]... [[Freud]] calls [[scene|another scene]]."<ref>{{S11}}: 56</ref>
  
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He also repalced the linguistic categories of [[metaphor]] and [[metonymy]] with the new concepts of [[alienation]] and [[separation]].
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The [[unconscious]] manifests itself at those moments in which [[processes]] beyond [[consciousness|conscious thought]] disrupt [[speech]], points when [[language]] fails.  [[Lacan]] defines the [[unconscious]] in [[terms]] of "impediment", "failure" and "[[splitting]]". The [[unconscious]] ''is'' precisely this [[gap]] or [[gap|rupture]] in the [[symbolic]] [[signifyin chain|chain]].
  
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The processes of alienation and separation are closely linked to the psychoanalytic conception of desire and the drive.
 
  
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=Formations of the Unconscious=
 
  
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The [[unconscious]] for [[Freud]] is essentially [[representation]], in the sense that it consists of the [[memory]] traces of earily [[infantile]] experiences and [[trauma]]s.
 
  
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Lacan developed a number of different definitions of the unconscious and the emphasis that he placed on each conceptualization changed throughout his career.
 
  
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According to Lacan, psychoanalysis is a science.
 
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It is the science of the unconscious subject, and this subject first emerged in the seventeenth century with the founder of modern philosophy RenE Descartes (1596-1650).
 
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Lacan interprets the Freduain unconsicous as both the direct heir of the Cartesian subject and, at the same time, that which undermines all philosophies deriving from it.
 
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In ''Meditations'' (1642) Descartes asked how we might know the truth of our beliefs and our perceptions of reality.
 
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He suggested that we could only do this scientifically if we rejected everything that we had cause to doubt and then saw what remained with certainty as true.
 
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The difficulty with this approach, Descartes observed, is that it could lead one into more difficulties and uncertainty than the position from which one originally started.
 
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One would have to accept, as Descartes put it, that "there was nothing at all in the world: no sky, no earth, no minds or bodies."<ref>1968: 103</ref>
 
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Descartes concluded, then, that all we could be certain of was the existence of God and ourselves.
 
  
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That the unconscious is [[structured]] like a language is Lacan's central [[thesis]] and probably his most influential contribution to [[psychoanalysis]]
  
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SKIP
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The [[unconscious]] is governed by the rules of the [[signifier]] as it is [[language]]
  
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From a Lacanian perspective, on the other hand, as Slavoj Zizek puts it, the only thing one can be certaint of is that ''one does not exist''.
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We can only [[know]] the unconscious through speech and language; therefore.
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LEt us try to clarify this.
 
  
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Freud remains Cartesian to the extent that he sets out from a posiiton of doubt, but, whereas Descartes moves from a position of doubt to the certainty of conscious mind, Freud moves in the opposite direction aand places the emphasis on the ''doubt'' that support certainty.
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the unconscious is constituted through the [[subject]]'s articulation in [[the symbolic]] [[order]]. The [[Lacanian]] unconscious is not an [[individual]] unconscious, in the [[sense]] that Freud speaks of the unconscious
  
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For Freud, it is the central tenet of psychoanalysis that the vast majority of mental life and activity remains inaccessible to the consicous mind.
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The Lacanian unconscious is rather the effect of a trans-individual [[symbolic order]] upon [[The Subject|the subject]]. We can draw from this [[three]] related theses:
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He famously used the iamge of an iceberg to illustrate the human mind, in the sense that only a fraction of an iceberg is immediately visible and the majority of it remains submerged beneath the surface.
 
  
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Lacan argues that if we take the Freudian unconscious seriously then we must reverse Descartes' formulation thus: "By virtue of the fact that I doubt, I am sure that I think."<ref>1979: 35</ref>
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# The unconscious is not [[biological]] but is something that signifies.
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The certainty of consciousness is always supported by something else: by doubt, by the unknown or unknowable, or by what Freud will designate as the unconscious.
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# The unconscious is the effect - the impact - upon the subject of the trans-individual symbolic order.
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# The unconscious is structured like a language.
  
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For Lacan, thereforee, the only thing we can know with certainty after Freud is t"that the subject of the unconscious manifests itself, that it thinks before it attains certainty."<ref>1979: 37</ref>
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Fink argues that the Lacanian unconscious is not only structured like a language but is language, insofar as it is language that makes up the unconscious. This involves us in rethinking, however, what we mean by language. Language, for Lacan, designates not simply [[verbal]] speech or written [[text]] but any signifying [[system]] that is based upon differential relations. The unconscious is structured like a language in the sense that it is a signifying [[process]] that involves coding and decoding, or ciphering and deciphering. The unconscious comes into [[being]] in [[The Symbolic|the symbolic]] order in the gap between signifier and [[signified]], through the sliding of the signified beneath the signifier and the failure of [[meaning]] to be fixed (see Chapter 2). In short, the unconscious is something that signifies and must be deciphered.
  
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In this sense the unconscious is pre-ontological; it is not a question of existence, of being or non-being, but rather of the ''unrealized'', the unknown of Cartesian doubt.
 
  
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THe unconscious is not the act of doubting as such, as this presupposes an already existing subject.
 
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The unconscious is the unknown that lies beyond doubt.
 
  
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THE [[Unconscious is the discourse of the Other|UNCONSCIOUS IS THE DISCOURSE OF THE OTHER]]
  
  
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[[Lacan]] defines the [[unconscious]] as the "[[discourse]] of the [[Other]]."<ref>* "[[Subversion du sujet et dialectique du désir dans l'inconscient freudien]]." ''[[Écrits]]''. [[Paris]]: Seuil, 1966: 793-827 ["[[The subversion of the subject and the dialectic of desire in the Freudian unconscious]]." Trans. [[Alan Sheridan]] ''[[Écrits: A Selection]]''. [[London]]: Tavistock, 1977; New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1977: 292-325]. </ref>
  
  
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==The Unconscious as Gap or Rupture==
 
  
  
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==The Unconscious is Structured like a Language==
 
  
  
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==The Unconscious is the Discourse of the Other==
 
  
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=Alienation and Separation=
 
  
  
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=The Lacanian Subject=
 
  
  
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=The Drive=
 
  
  
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=''Hamlet'' and the Tragedy of Desire=
 
  
  
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=Summary=
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
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[[Category:Guide]]
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[[Category:Jacques Lacan]]
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[[Category:Subject]]
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[[Category:Real]]

Latest revision as of 20:54, 25 May 2019

THE UNCONSCIOUS AS GAP OR RUPTURE

The unconscious must "be apprehended in its experience of rupture, between perception and consciousness, in that nontemporal locus... Freud calls another scene."[1]

The unconscious manifests itself at those moments in which processes beyond conscious thought disrupt speech, points when language fails. Lacan defines the unconscious in terms of "impediment", "failure" and "splitting". The unconscious is precisely this gap or rupture in the symbolic chain.




That the unconscious is structured like a language is Lacan's central thesis and probably his most influential contribution to psychoanalysis

The unconscious is governed by the rules of the signifier as it is language

We can only know the unconscious through speech and language; therefore.

the unconscious is constituted through the subject's articulation in the symbolic order. The Lacanian unconscious is not an individual unconscious, in the sense that Freud speaks of the unconscious

The Lacanian unconscious is rather the effect of a trans-individual symbolic order upon the subject. We can draw from this three related theses:

  1. The unconscious is not biological but is something that signifies.
  2. The unconscious is the effect - the impact - upon the subject of the trans-individual symbolic order.
  3. The unconscious is structured like a language.

Fink argues that the Lacanian unconscious is not only structured like a language but is language, insofar as it is language that makes up the unconscious. This involves us in rethinking, however, what we mean by language. Language, for Lacan, designates not simply verbal speech or written text but any signifying system that is based upon differential relations. The unconscious is structured like a language in the sense that it is a signifying process that involves coding and decoding, or ciphering and deciphering. The unconscious comes into being in the symbolic order in the gap between signifier and signified, through the sliding of the signified beneath the signifier and the failure of meaning to be fixed (see Chapter 2). In short, the unconscious is something that signifies and must be deciphered.


THE UNCONSCIOUS IS THE DISCOURSE OF THE OTHER


Lacan defines the unconscious as the "discourse of the Other."[2]

  1. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book XI. The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis, 1964. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1977.: 56
  2. ↑ * "Subversion du sujet et dialectique du désir dans l'inconscient freudien." Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966: 793-827 ["The subversion of the subject and the dialectic of desire in the Freudian unconscious." Trans. Alan Sheridan Écrits: A Selection. London: Tavistock, 1977; New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 1977: 292-325].
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