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{{TopTopp}}connaissance]]''/''[[savoir{{Bottom}}

===Two Types of KnowledgeDefinition===The term "[[knowledge]]" has two [[meanings]] in [[Lacan]]'s [[Jacques Lacan:Bibliography|work]]. [[Lacan]] distinguishes between two types of [[knowledge]]: * [[knowledge|imaginary knowledge]] ([[French]]: '''''[[connaissance]]''''') which is -- the [[knowledge]] of the '''[[ego]]''', and  * [[knowledge|symbolic knowledge]] ([[French]]: '''''[[savoir]]'''''), which is -- the [[knowledge]] of the '''[[subject]]'''.

===Symbolic Knowledge===''[[Savoirknowledge|Symbolic knowledge]]'' is refers to both the [[knowledge]] of the '''[[subject]]''''s ''relation '' to the '''[[symbolic]] [[order]]''', and also to that ''relation '' itself. This [[knowledge]] It is the articulation of '''[[signifier]]s ''' in the [[subject]]'s [[symbolic|symbolic universe]], the '''[[signifying chain]] ''' ([[Image:SS2.gif]]).

===Unconscious as an "Unknown Knowledge"===The "'''[[unconscious]] '''" is simply [[another ]] [[name ]] for [[knowledge|symbolic knowledge]] insofar as it is an "[[knowledge|unknown knowledge]]," a [[knowledge]] which the [[subject]] ''does not know it knows''.

===Aim of Psychoanalytic TreatmentAbsolute Knowledge==='''[[treatment|Psychoanalytic treatment]]''' involves a way to access [[knowledge|symbolic knowledge]], via a [[particular]] [[form]] of [[speech]] called '''[[free association]]'''. The [[end of analysis|aim]] of '''[[Savoirtreatment|psychoanalytic treatment]]''' is the kind ''[[progress|progressive reveletion]]'' of [[knowledge|symbolic knowledge]] to the [[subject]], rather than "[[knowledge|absolute knowledge]]," because the [[unconscious]] is irreducible; there is an inescapable '''[[split|division]]''' between the '''[[subject]] which ''' and '''[[psychoanalytic treatmentknowledge]] aims at'''.

[[Psychoanalytic treatment]] aims at a progressive revelation of this [[knowledge]] to the [[subject]], and is based on the premise that the only means of access to this [[knowledge]] is via a particular form of [[speech]] called [[free association]]. However, [[psychoanalytic treatment]] does not aim at a [[Hegel]]ian "[[absolute knowledge]]," because the [[unconscious]] is irreducible; there is an inescapable division between the [[subject]] and [[knowledge]]. ==="Knowledge is the ''Jouissance''' of the Other"===[[Knowledge|Symbolic]] [[knowledge]] is [[knowledge]] of the '''[[truth]] ''' [[about ]] one's '''[[unconscious]] [[desire]]'''.  In this [[sense]], [[Knowledgeknowledge]] in this sense is a form of '''''[[jouissance]]''''': "[[knowledge]] is the '''''[[jouissance]]''''' of the '''[[Other]]'''."<ref>{{S17}} p.13</ref>

[[knowledge|Symbolic]] [[knowledge]] does not reside in any particular [[subject]], nor in the [[Other]] (which is not a [[subject]] but a locus), but is '''[[intersubjective]]'''.  However, this does not prevent one supposing that somewhere there is a [[subject]] who possesses this [[knowledge| symbolic knowledge]] (the '''[[subject supposed to know]]''').  The [[knowledge]] is ''attributed'' to the [[analyst]] by the [[analysand]] in [[treatment|psychoanalytic treatment]]. The [[analysand]] attributes [[knowledge]] to the [[analyst]] in [[treatment|psychoanalytic treatment]].

===[[Knowledge|Imaginary Knowledge===knowledge]] refers to the [[knowledge|self-knowledge]] of the [[subject]] in the '''[[Connaissanceimaginary]] [[order]]'' (and its necessary correlate, ''. This [[méconnaissancedelusion|illusory]]'') is the kind of [[knowledge|self-knowledge]] that belongs to the , based on [[imaginaryméconnaissance|misunderstanding]] , [[orderméconnaissance|misrecognition]]. It is by misunderstanding and misrecognition (''[[méconnaissance]]'') that the , and a [[fantasy]] of [[subjectmaster|self-mastery]] comes to the and [[knowledgegestalt|imaginary knowledgeunity]] of himself (''me-connaissance'') which , is constitutive of the [[ego]].<ref>{{E}} p.306</ref> The [[ego]] is thus an [[illusory]] kind of [[knowledge|self-knowledge]] based on a [[fantasy]] of self-mastery and [[unity]].

==="Paranoiac Knowledge"===[[knowledge|Imaginary]] [[knowledge]] is called "'''[[knowledge|paranoiac knowledge]]'''" by [[Lacan]] because it has the same '''[[structure]] ''' as '''[[paranoia]] ''' (both involve a the [[delusion]] of [[absolute knowledge]] and [[master|mastery]]), and because one of the preconditions of all [[knowledge|human]] [[knowledge]] is the "'''[[paranoiac ]] [[alienation ]] of the ego'''."<ref>{{E}} p.2</ref>

===Imaginary Obstacle to Symbolic KnowledgeResistance===[[Knowledge|Imaginary knowledge]] is an ''[[resistance|obstacle ]]'' which hinders the [[subject]]'s access to [[knowledge|symbolic knowledge]].  '''[[Treatment|Psychoanalytic treatment]] ''' must therefore continually subvert the [[subject]]'s [[knowledge|imaginary]] [[knowledge|self-knowledge]] in order to reveal the [[knowledge|symbolic]] [[knowledge|self-knowledge]] which it blocks.