School

school (Ècole) When Lacan founded the …cole Freudienne de Paris (EFP)

in 1964, after his resignation from the SociÈtÈ FranÁaise de Psychanalyse

(SPP), he chose to call it a 'school' for precise reasons. Not only was it the

first time that a psychoanalytic organisation had been called a 'school' rather

than an 'association' or a 'society', but the term 'school' also highlighted the

fact that the EFP was more a means of psychoanalytic formation centred

around a doctrine than an institutional order centred around a group of

important people. Thus the very use of the term 'school' in the name of the

EFP indicated that it was an attempt to found a very different type of psycho-

analytic institution from those which had been founded before. Lacan was

particularly keen to avoid the dangers of the hierarchy dominating the institu-

tion, which he saw in the INTERNATIONAL PSYCHO-ANALYTICAL ASSOCIATION (IPA),

and which he blamed for the theoretical misunderstandings which had come to

dominate the IPA; the IPA had become, he argued, a kind of church (Sll, 4).

However, it is also important to note that Lacan's criticisms of the IPA do not

imply a criticism of the psychoanalytic institution per se; while Lacan is very

critical of the dangers that beset all psychoanalytic institutions, the fact that he

himself founded one is evidence that he thought that some kind of institutional

framework was necessary for psychoanalysts. Thus Lacan is just as sceptical of

those analysts who reject all institutions as he is of those who turn the

institution into a kind of church.

     Many of Lacan's ideas cannot be understood without some understanding of

the history of the EFP (1964-80), especially those of Lacan's ideas which

relate to the Training of analysts. In this context it is important to note that the

EFP was not merely a training institute, and that membership was not

restricted to analysts/trainees, but was open to anyone with an interest in

psychoanalysis. All members had equal voting rights, which meant that the

EFP was the first truly democratic psychoanalytic organisation in history.

     There  were four categories of members in the EFP: M.E. (Membre de

l'Ecole, or simple member), A.P. (Analyste Practiquant), A.M.E. (Analyste

Membre de l'…cole), and A.E. (Analyste de l'…cole). Members could, and often

did, hold several titles simultaneously. Those who applied for membership of

the school were interviewed by a committee called the cardo (a word meaning

  a hinge on which a door turns) before being admitted as an M.E.

     Only the A.M.E. and the A.E. were recognised as analysts by the school,

although other members were not forbidden to conduct analyses, and could

award themselves the title of A.P. to indicate that they were practising

analysts. The title of A.M.E. was granted to members of the school who

satisfied a jury of senior members that they had conducted the analysis of

two patients in a satisfactory manner; in this sense, the category of A.M.E, was

similar to that of the titular members of other psychoanalytic societies. The

title of A.E, was awarded on the basis of a very different procedure, which

Lacan called the PAss. The pass was instituted by Lacan in 1967 as a means of

verifying the end of analysis, and constitutes the most original feature of the

EFP. Another original feature of the EFP was the promotion of research in

small study groups known aS CARTELS.

     The final years of the EFP were dominated by intense controversy over the

pass and other issues (see Roudinesco, 1986). In 1980, Lacan dissolved the

EFP, and in 1981 he created a new institution in its stead, the …cole de la Cause

Freudienne (ECF). Some of the original members of the EFP followed Lacan

into the ECF, whereas others left to set up a variety of other groups. Some of

these groups still exist today, as does the ECF.