Lacanian Psychoanalysis

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Lacanian Psychoanalysis
Basic Information
Aliases	Lacanianism Post-Freudianism Charlatan (By Noam Chomsky)
Alignments	European Continental Psychoanalysis
Philosophical Influences
Influenced by	Aristotelianism Batailleanism Freudianism Hegelianism Sartrean Existentialism Jungianism Kantianism Levi-Straussianism Marxism Sadism Spinozism Structuralism Surrealism Post-Structuralism Critical Theory Cartesianism Taoism Pascalism Jasperianism Peircianism Buddhism Kojeveanism
Influenced	Freudo-Marxism Lacanian Anarchism Deleuzoguattarianism
Philosophical Information
Notable Theorists	Jacques Lacan (1901-1981), France
Character Information
Likes	Various graphs Mathematics (Allegedly)
Dislikes	People claiming Psychoanalysis to be pseudoscience Delusionals

Lacanianism is a Structuralist and Post-Structuralist extension of classical psychoanalysis, initiated by the work of Jacques Lacan.

History

Jacques Lacan's Lacanianism

In the 1930s and 1940s, Lacan, influenced by Henri Wallon, introduced the mirror stage, challenging ego psychology by highlighting the imaginary nature of the ego. Shifting to the 1950s, he delved into the Symbolic order, exploring language's role in shaping individual experiences within societal structures.

The 1960s saw Lacan's increased focus on the Real, an unconscious element linked to trauma, dreams, and drives, resisting easy interpretation. This departure from totalizing structural theories marked a shift towards what was lacking or absent.

By the 1970s, the triad of the Real, the Imaginary, and the Symbolic became integral to Lacan's psychoanalytic framework. This conceptualization reflected his dialectical approach, drawing from Freudian and structuralist ideas, as well as engagement with continental philosophers. Lacan's emphasis on the Real and its intertwining with the other registers marked a transition in psychoanalysis from modernity to postmodernity.

Post-Lacanianism

In the 1980s, the Lacanian movement experienced fragmentation, giving rise to numerous new organizations, notably the Millerite Ecole de la Cause freudienne (ECF) and the Centre de formation et de recherches psychoanalytiques (CFRP). This period witnessed the emergence of fourteen additional associations stemming from the former EDF by 1993, indicating a continued divergence.

The post-Lacanian era was marked by challenges, including early resignations and splits within the ECF. In the late 1990s, a significant global exodus of analysts from Jacques-Alain Miller's organization occurred, driven by allegations of misuse of authority.

Efforts were made to reunite the various factions, with some arguing that Lacanianism was becoming stagnant, characterized by theoretical debates that no longer brought fresh insights. However, reunification proved difficult, particularly within French Lacanianism, where past betrayals and conflicts complicated the process. Each faction claimed its portion of Lacanian thought as the sole authentic one, contributing to the inherent fragility and dispersal of Lacanianism, as aptly noted by Roudinesco.

Contemporary Lacanianism

In the contemporary landscape of Lacanian psychoanalysis, there are three distinct trends. First, there is a scholarly interest in Lacan's theories divorced from their original clinical applications. This academic exploration treats Lacanian ideas as a subject of study in its own right, focusing on understanding the theories rather than using them in a clinical context.

Second, a group known as the Ecole de la Cause freudienne (ECF) has emerged, positioning itself as a legitimate alternative to the mainstream International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). This movement has gained international support, particularly in Spain and Latin America, challenging the established norms in the field.

Third, there is a pluralistic approach exemplified by the Centre de formation et de recherches psychoanalytiques (CFRP). This group has moved away from certain Lacanian practices, such as the "passe," and is open to incorporating elements from traditional psychoanalysis. Even after the dissolution of the CFRP in 1995, its successor organizations have continued this more flexible and inclusive approach.

Despite these diverse perspectives, attempts to reintegrate with the IPA face obstacles. Differences persist, notably in practices like the 'short session' and Lacan's rejection of countertransference as a therapeutic tool, making reconciliation with mainstream psychoanalytic methods challenging. This reflects the ongoing complexity and divergence within the realm of post-Lacanian thought.

Beliefs

Mirror Stage

The concept of the mirror stage, occurring between 6-18 months of a child's development, highlights the moment when a child recognizes their image in the mirror and begins to differentiate themselves from others. This stage marks the transition from the pre-linguistic, unified self to the Symbolic stage of language acquisition.

During the mirror stage, the child experiences pleasure and fascination with their mirror image, perceiving it as a unified and ideal version of themselves. This image provides a sense of completeness and mastery that contrasts with the child's experience of their own fragmented body. The identification with the mirror image is crucial in establishing a sense of a unified self, although it also introduces a sense of alienation.

Lacan argues that the ego emerges through this identification process, but it is based on an illusory image of wholeness and mastery. The ego's function is to maintain the illusion of coherence and refuse acceptance of fragmentation and alienation. The conflict between the fragmented sense of self and the imaginary autonomy of the ego sets the stage for future relations with others, as the subject becomes both dependent on and a rival to others for recognition.

The Three Orders

Lacanian Orders

The Imaginary

The Imaginary order is formed through the identification of the ego with the mirror image during the mirror stage. This relationship between the ego and its counterpart is characterized by a sense of alienation and narcissism. It is associated with consciousness, self-awareness and everyday reality. The Imaginary encompasses how individuals imagine others, interpret their communicative interactions, and construct their own identities. This gives rise to the illusions of wholeness, synthesis, autonomy, duality, and most importantly, similarity.

The Imaginary often involves category mistakes, where the other two registers are mistaken for each other. The Real is misperceived as Symbolic, leading to symptoms like obsession and paranoia, while the Symbolic is misperceived as Real, leading to psychosomatic conversion symptoms. Despite being fictional or simulated, the phenomena of the Imaginary are necessary illusions or real abstractions. They are intrinsic to the existence of speaking subjects and have concrete effects on human realities.

The Symbolic

The Symbolic, often referred to as the "big Other", drawing on structuralist ideas, encompasses the socio-linguistic structures and dynamics that shape and determine us. According to Lacan, individual subjectivity relies on the collective Symbolic order. The analytic unconscious is viewed as a network of interlinked signifiers, structured like a language. It is through speech, the medium of the Symbolic, that the unconscious is interpreted. Lacan emphasizes that the unconscious is structured like "un langage," referring to logical and structural aspects of syntax and semantics rather than a specific natural language.

According to Lacan, once the Symbolic order is established, it gives the impression of having always existed. The origin of language and what preceded it remain beyond our comprehension, leading to the understanding that questions of development lie outside the scope of psychoanalysis.

The Real

The Real is inherently different from the realms of the Imaginary and the Symbolic, which encompass conscious perception and communicable meaning. The Real resists being captured in comprehensible formulations using the signs of the Imaginary and the Symbolic. It is, as Lacan emphasizes, an "impossibility" in relation to reality.

Lacan portrays the Real as an absolute fullness, devoid of absences or lacks, with the Symbolic injecting negativities into it. Language has the power to represent the Real as "missing" things, but the Real itself remains a presence of sheer plenitude.

Clinical Structures and Defense Mechanisms

Lacanianism proposes that individuals can be categorized into three "clinical structures": psychotic, perverse, or neurotic. Neurosis, the most common structure, further divides individuals into either hysterics or obsessives. These structures define a person's relationship with the Other and are associated with distinct defense mechanisms. Psychotics employ foreclosure, rejecting the father's authority in the Oedipus complex and consequently failing to develop a Symbolic unconscious. Perversions involve disavowal, where individuals deny that lack generates desire and designate a specific object as its cause, often a fetish. Neurotics rely on repression as their defense mechanism.

Relationships

Friends

• Freudianism - It's never too late to return to Freud!
• Structuralism & Post-Structuralism - Very influential to my philosophy.
• Stoicism - I appreciate your self-mastery.
• Post-Modernism - I may be considered Post-Modernist by some.

Frenemies

• Marxist Theory - I value your insights into the role of ideology, although you might be too rigid sometimes.

Enemies

• Essentialism - There are no fixed meanings or identities.
• Deleuzoguattarianism - Come on Guattari, why did you have to break with me like that?

Further Information

Wikipedia

Articles

• Lacanianism

Peoples

• Jacques Lacan