Lacan Thread

To defend psychoanalysis against the Popperians and the behaviourists. Lacan is as materialist as they come.

These faggots haven't been a thing for more than just a couple decades, most of them went to the "cognitive" psychology. At least the Behaviorists believed in the human subject, a cognitive psychologist doesn't.

Here's some PDF's of my two favorite seminars, plus some helpful secondary resources:

Seminar XI: The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis

Seminar VII: The Ethics of Psychoanalysis (this is the one where Lacan formulates his famous "ethics of desire")

Slavoj Zizek - How to Read Lacan (overall just a really useful and brief introduction to some Lacanian fundamentals. I find myself returning to it as certain concepts get clearer over time)

Alfredo Eiselszitein The Graph of Desire (im currently working through this myself, so I'm not sure exactly what the emphasis is yet. it seems more theory than clinical practice. if anything, it's a great tool for understanding that ridiculous fucking "graph" of his)

Bruce Fink - Lacan to the Letter (this is my favorite fink text. as always, his focus is almost entirely directed towards clinical practice, however in this one he engages with what would appear to be Lacan's most obscuritan, "theoretical" writings, and manages to interpret them into a coherent clinical praxis)

I've got a lot more seminars/other lacanian stuff if anyone is interested.

fug

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ur doing God's work, thank u for this both of u

One day I will read Zizek with my own internal monologue instead of his voice.

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lacan confirmed for liking traps

Let's be honest Zizek is probably 40% Lacan, 25% Hegel, 15% toilet jokes, 15% pop culture references and 5% Marx

Nah, Lacan doesn't believe women even exist

"cute fake one"

I am looking for Lacanian literature that is both accessible to the layperson and short in length. I have an assortment of books myself, with gratitude to GentleGinjeet, but none of it seems apt for an aspirant reader. At this point I am left with 'Introducing Lacan', but even that one presupposes the reader is familiar with structural reasoning and literary interpretation.
For the record, Fink et al are not appropriate as those assume an academic level of reading comprehension.

Regardless, any recommendation for brief works is appreciated.

how is "a clinical intro" not fit for a layperson?!
and how about "how to read Lacan" by Zizek?

God I fucking love Twingo memes

I finished the books on the mega link that's circulated on this thread (I.E., all the fink stuff, and Ecrits)

What/who should I read now?

Jesus. If you actually did it, congratulations, I've barely finished Fink's books. There are the seminars of Lacan as well as some authors from Ljubljana you may like, among them Samo Tomsic, Alenka Zupancic, Renata Salecl and Mladen Dolar. Adrian Johnston has written on psychoanalysis too, so you make start with some of these.

It's in the name: clinical indicates it is meant for individuals already familiar with mainstream psychology. Fink explains as much in the preface:
"This book is set out to rectify [the lack of clinical literature on Lacanian psychoanalytics]. It is designed for clinicians (psychoanalysts, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, counselors, social workers, and so on) and for people in - or interested in going into - therapy."
Incidentally, I disagree with the latter part, as I have a background in psychology and relied heavily on psychological literature to contextualize many of the claims and statements made in the book. People with little to no familiarity with Freud et al won't be able to uncover the many, hidden assumptions and references the writing relies on.

Zizek's literature shouldn't be picked up by anyone who isn't mired in the philosophy A-to-Z. Don't get me wrong, I think many of his works are great, but his corpus simply isn't fit for non-academics. (His talks are different, though. Perhaps another note taken from Lacan.)

you can fix that by literally watching a couple intro videos to Freud on youtube

Thanks, it feels good. My appetite for this stuff is very large, as it is very interesting to me (not to mention it has been useful for both reflection and my dealings with other people in life).

Got any pdfs?

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What would zizek think of evangelion?

It's Lacanian as fuck my dude, this has been a big topic of discussion for a while now. We *need* to get Zizek to watch it

crithit.org/kfharlock/?p=80

fugg how do I understand the difference between desire and drive? It's the hardest thing, I understand that desire has no object and that drive does, but what is drive? Is it the same thing as libido?

perhaps this is not quite layperson friendly but it is shorter than some of the other material circulating around in this thread

Alenka Zupančič's Why Psychoanalysis?

scribd.com/document/217592413/Zupancic-Why-Psychoanalysis-Three-Interventions

how did Lacan talk to analysands and why?

I hear about excerpts of his impromptus when he speaks in such a way that I would not expect an analyst to talk from the texts of Fink and Ecrits.

E.G.,

"My grandmother was very beautiful"
Lacan: "That's right!"

(one day before a holiday)
"Happy holiday"
Lacan: "You are going on holiday?"

I don't understand how I should talk to an analysand

Thank you, I'll check it out.

Don't miss the forest for the trees. As long as you have a handle on the theory you can apply it in practice. Believe in me who believes in you.
Also, mind that a client (by lack of a better term) is not an analysand at the beginning. They become an analysand over time.

alright =) thanks
I was getting kinda worried, was about to learn French just to read the rest of the impromptus and 'learn by example' though I may still do this

Don't let me discourage you from studying - but, at the same time, don't get lost in worrying either.

Your advice is soothing, I appreciate it

You seem well educated on this subject, and I wish to learn more, is there anything/anyone you suggest I read to supplement my reading of Lacan? I have read everything from the mega everyone is passing around, as well as a number of Freud texts. Do you have any other texts?

If what you wrote is true, than you have read more on (Lacanian) psychoanalysis than I have. Enjoy the fruits of your labour.

In that case, is there anything on non-Lacanian psycho-analysis which you have resources on? Sorry to be a bother

I don't mind. Not a psycho-analyst, strictly speaking, but take a look at Csikszentmihalyi. Jung is also worth reading, purely for the historic context and as argument fodder.

has anyone here read any Derrida? Can you explain the *ehem* differences and similarities, contradictions and agreements for me?

Heh, the only real difference I know is between some position Zizek holds that is different from Derrida. Whereas for Derrida an ethical action is apparently one which we do assuming we will be judged by a future emancipated community, Zizek takes another position, which is that we should act according to what our desire tells us, assuming our responsibility for it rather than acting according to what the Other allows. Otherwise Derrida is literally who? Where does one start with him, anfem?

unfortunately I've only read 'Deconstruction in a Nutshell' which was really easy to understand (especially if you've read Kierkegaard), and was very interesting. I like his opposition to Hegel's philosophy of history and his criticisms of Marx =)

Wrong. Derrida was in fact highly suspicious of the futur antérieur, not positing it as an ethical theory.

this thread must live on

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