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{{Top}}psychologie{{Bottom}}
  
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==Jacques Lacan==
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===Early Work===
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In his pre-[[{{Y}}|1950]] [[Jacques Lacan:Bibliography|writings]], [[Lacan]] sees [[psychoanalysis]] and [[psychology]] as parallel disciplines which can cross-fertilize each [[other]].  Although he is very critical of the [[conceptual]] inadequacies of [[psychology|associationist psychology]], [[Lacan]] argues that [[psychoanalysis]] can [[help]] to build an "authentic psychology" free from such errors by providing it with truly [[science|scientific]] [[concepts]] such as the ''[[imago]]'' and the [[complex]].<ref>{{L}} "[[Work of Jacques Lacan|Au-delà du 'principe de realité']]", 1936. {{E}} pp. 73-92</ref>
  
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===Middle Work===
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However, from [[{{Y}}|1950]] on, there is a gradual but constant tendency to dissociate [[psychoanalysis]] from [[psychology]].  [[Lacan]] begins by arguing that [[psychology]] is confined to an [[understanding]] of [[nature|animal psychology]] ([[nature|ethology]]):
  
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<blockquote>"The psychological is, if we try to grasp it as firmly as possible, the ethological, that is the [[whole]] of the [[biological]] [[individual]]'s [[behaviour]] in relation to his [[natural]] [[environment]]."<ref>{{S3}} p. 7</ref></blockquote>
  
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This is not to say that it cannot say anything [[about]] [[human]] [[being]]s, for [[human]]s are also [[animal]]s, but that it cannot say anything about that which is uniquely [[human]].<ref>Although at one point [[Lacan]] does [[state]] that the [[theory]] of the [[ego]] and of [[narcissism]] 'extend' modern ethological research.{{Ec}} p. 472</ref> 
  
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psychology (psychologie)                 
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Thus [[psychology]] is reduced to general laws of behavior which apply to all [[animal]]s, including [[human]] [[being]]s; [[Lacan]] rejects "the [[doctrine]] of a discontinuity between animal psychology and human psychology which is far away from our [[thought]]."<ref>{{Ec}} p. 484</ref>  However, [[Lacan]] vigorously rejects the [[biology|behaviorist theory]] according to which the same general laws of behaviour are sufficient to explain all [[human]] [[psychic]] phenomena.  Only [[psychoanalysis]], which uncovers the [[linguistics|linguistic basis]] of [[human]] [[subjectivity]], is adequate to explain those psychic phenomena which are specifically [[human]].
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In his pre-1950 writings, Lacan sees psychoanalysis and psychology as parallel disciplines which can cross-fertilise each other. Although he is very critical of the conceptual inadequacies of associationist psychology, Lacan argues that psychoanalysis can help to build an 'authentic psychology' free from such errors by providing it with truly scientific concepts such as the IMAGo and the COMPLEx (Lacan, 1936).
 
  
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makes of such comparisons, it is clear that Lacan's discussions of [[Psychosis]]
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===Latest Work===
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  are among the most significant and original aspects of his work.
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In the [[{{Y}}|1960s]] the distance between [[psychoanalysis]] and [[psychology]] is emphasised further in [[Lacan]]'s [[Works of Jacques Lacan|work]]. [[Lacan]] argues that [[psychology]] is essentially a tool of "technocratic exploitation",<ref>{{Ec}} p.851; {{Ec}} p. 832</ref> and that it is dominated by the [[delusion|illusions]] of [[lack|wholeness]] and [[imaginary|synthesis]], [[nature]] and [[instinct]], [[autonomy]] and [[consciousness|self-consciousness]].<ref>{{Ec}} p. 832</ref>  [[Psychoanalysis]], on the other hand, subverts these [[illusion]]s cherished by [[psychology]], and in this [[sense]] "the [[Freudian]] [[enunciation]] has [[nothing]] to do with psychology.<ref>{{S17}} p. 144</ref>  For example the most cherished [[illusion]] of [[psychology]] is "the [[unity]] of the subject",<ref>{{E}} p. 294</ref>, and [[psychoanalysis]] subverts this [[notion]] by demonstrating that the [[subject]] is irremediably [[split]] or "[[bar]]red".
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      Lacan's most detailed discussion of [[Psychosis]] appears in his seminar of
 
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  1955-6, entitled simply The Pychoses. It is here that he expounds what come
 
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  to be the main tenets of the Lacanian approach tO MADNESs. [[Psychosis]] is defined
 
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  as one of the three clinical [[Structure]]S, one of which is defmed by the operation
 
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of FORECLOSURE. In this operation, the NAME-OF-THE-FATHER is not integrated in
 
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  the [[Symbolic]] universe of the psychotic (it is 'foreclosed'), with the result that a
 
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  hole is left in the [[Symbolic]] order. To speak of a hole in the [[Symbolic]] order is
 
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  not to say that the psychotic does not have an unconscious: on the contrary, in
 
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[[Psychosis]] 'the unconscious is present but not functioning' (S3, 208). The
 
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psychotic structure thus results from          a certain malfunction of the Oedipus
 
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complex, a lack in the paternal function; more specifically, in [[Psychosis]] the
 
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paternal function is reduced to the image of the father (the [[Symbolic]] is reduced
 
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  to the [[Imaginary]]).
 
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      In Lacanian psychoanalysis it is important to distinguish between [[Psychosis]],
 
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    which is a clinical structure, and psychotic phenomena such aS [[DELUSIONS]] and
 
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  HALLUCINATIONS. Two conditions are required for psychotic phenomena to
 
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  emerge: the subject must have a psychotic structure, and the Name-of-the-
 
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  Father must be 'called into [[Symbolic]] opposition to the subject' (E, 217). In the
 
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  absence of the first condition, no confrontation with the paternal signifier will
 
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  ever lead to psychotic phenomena; a neurotic can never 'become psychotic'
 
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    (see S3, 15). In the absence of the second condition, the psychotic structure
 
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    will remain latent. It is thus conceivable that a subject may have a psychotic
 
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  structure and yet never develop [[Delusions]] or experience hallucinations. When
 
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    both conditions    are fulfilled, the [[Psychosis]] is 'triggered off', the latent
 
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[[Psychosis]] becomes manifest in hallucinations and/or [[Delusions]].
 
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      Lacan bases his arguments on a detailed reading of the Schreber case (Freud,
 
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    1911c). Daniel Paul Schreber was an Appeal Court judge in Dresden who
 
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    wrote  an account of his paranoid [[Delusions]];        an analysis of these writings
 
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  constitutes Freud's most important contribution to the study of [[Psychosis]].
 
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    Lacan argues that Schreber's [[Psychosis]] was triggered off by both his failure
 
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    to produce a child and his election to an important position in the judiciary;
 
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    both of these experiences confronted him with the question of paternity in the
 
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    [[Real]], and thus called the Name-of-the-Father into [[Symbolic]] opposition with the
 
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subject.
 
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      In the 1970s Lacan reformulates his approach to [[Psychosis]] around the notion
 
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    of the [[BORROMEAN KNOT]]. The three rings in the knot represent the three orders:
 
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    the [[Real]], the [[Symbolic]] and the [[Imaginary]]. While in neurosis these three rings
 
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    are linked together in a particular way, in [[Psychosis]] they become disentangled.
 
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    This psychotic dissociation may sometimes however be avoided by a sympto-
 
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    matic formation which acts as a fourth ring holding the other three together
 
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    (see SINTHOME).
 
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      Lacan follows Freud in arguing that while [[Psychosis]] is of great interest for
 
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However, from 1950 on, there is        a gradual but constant tendency        to
 
−
 
 
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dissociate psychoanalysis from psychology. Lacan begins by arguing that
 
−
 
 
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psychology is confined to        an understanding of animal psychology (ethol-
 
−
 
 
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ogy): 'The psychological is, if we try to grasp it as firmly as possible, the
 
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ethological, that is the whole of the biological individual's behaviour in
 
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relation to his natural environment' (S3, 7). This is not to say that it cannot
 
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say anything about human beings, for humans are also animals, but that it
 
−
 
 
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  cannot say anything about that which is uniquely human (although at one point
 
−
 
 
−
Lacan does state that the theory of the ego and of narcissism 'extend' modern
 
−
 
 
−
ethological research; Ec, 472). Thus psychology is reduced to general laws of
 
−
 
 
−
behaviour which apply to all animals, including human beings; Lacan rejects
 
−
 
 
−
'the doctrine of        a discontinuity between animal psychology and human
 
−
 
 
−
psychology which is far away from our thought' (Ec, 484). However, Lacan
 
−
 
 
−
vigorously rejects the behaviourist theory according to which the same general
 
−
 
 
−
laws of behaviour are sufficient to explain all human psychic phenomena. Only
 
−
 
 
−
psychoanalysis, which uncovers the linguistic basis of human subjectivity, is
 
−
 
 
−
adequate to explain those psychic phenomena which are specifically human.
 
−
 
 
−
      In the 1960s the distance between psychoanalysis and psychology is empha-
 
−
 
 
−
sised further in Lacan's work. Lacan argues that psychology is essentially a
 
−
 
 
−
tool of 'technocratic exploitation' (Ec, 851;          see Ec, 832), and that it is
 
−
 
 
−
dominated by the illusions of wholeness and synthesiS, NATURE and instinct,
 
−
 
 
−
autonomy and self-consciousness (Ec, 832). Psychoanalysis, on the other hand,
 
−
 
 
−
subverts these illusions cherished by psychology, and in this                  sense 'the
 
−
 
 
−
Freudian enunciation has nothing to do with psychology' (Sl7, 144). For
 
−
 
 
−
example the most cherished illusion of psychology is 'the unity of the
 
−
 
 
−
subject' (E, 294), and psychoanalysis subverts this notion by demonstrating
 
−
 
 
−
that the subject is irremediably split or 'barred'.
 
  
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==See Also==
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{{See}}
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* [[Bar]]
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* [[Biology]]
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* [[Instinct]]
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* [[Language]]
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||
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* [[Nature]]
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* [[Psychoanalysis]]
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||
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* [[Science]]
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* [[Split]]
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||
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* [[Subject]]
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{{Also}}
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==
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<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small">
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
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</div>
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{{Cat}}
  
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[[Category:Lacan]]
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__NOTOC__
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[[Category:Terms]]
 
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[[Category:Concepts]]
 
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[[Category:Psychoanalysis]]
 

Latest revision as of 20:59, 23 May 2019

French: psychologie

Jacques Lacan

Early Work

In his pre-1950 writings, Lacan sees psychoanalysis and psychology as parallel disciplines which can cross-fertilize each other. Although he is very critical of the conceptual inadequacies of associationist psychology, Lacan argues that psychoanalysis can help to build an "authentic psychology" free from such errors by providing it with truly scientific concepts such as the imago and the complex.[1]

Middle Work

However, from 1950 on, there is a gradual but constant tendency to dissociate psychoanalysis from psychology. Lacan begins by arguing that psychology is confined to an understanding of animal psychology (ethology):

"The psychological is, if we try to grasp it as firmly as possible, the ethological, that is the whole of the biological individual's behaviour in relation to his natural environment."[2]

This is not to say that it cannot say anything about human beings, for humans are also animals, but that it cannot say anything about that which is uniquely human.[3]

Thus psychology is reduced to general laws of behavior which apply to all animals, including human beings; Lacan rejects "the doctrine of a discontinuity between animal psychology and human psychology which is far away from our thought."[4] However, Lacan vigorously rejects the behaviorist theory according to which the same general laws of behaviour are sufficient to explain all human psychic phenomena. Only psychoanalysis, which uncovers the linguistic basis of human subjectivity, is adequate to explain those psychic phenomena which are specifically human.

Latest Work

In the 1960s the distance between psychoanalysis and psychology is emphasised further in Lacan's work. Lacan argues that psychology is essentially a tool of "technocratic exploitation",[5] and that it is dominated by the illusions of wholeness and synthesis, nature and instinct, autonomy and self-consciousness.[6] Psychoanalysis, on the other hand, subverts these illusions cherished by psychology, and in this sense "the Freudian enunciation has nothing to do with psychology.[7] For example the most cherished illusion of psychology is "the unity of the subject",[8], and psychoanalysis subverts this notion by demonstrating that the subject is irremediably split or "barred".

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. "Au-delà du 'principe de realité'", 1936. Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. pp. 73-92
  2. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. The Seminar. Book III. The Psychoses, 1955-56. Trans. Russell Grigg. London: Routledge, 1993. p. 7
  3. ↑ Although at one point Lacan does state that the theory of the ego and of narcissism 'extend' modern ethological research.Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p. 472
  4. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p. 484
  5. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p.851; Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p. 832
  6. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits. Paris: Seuil, 1966. p. 832
  7. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Le Séminaire. Livre XVII. L'envers de la psychanalyse, 19669-70. Ed. Jacques-Alain Miller. Paris: Seuil, 1991. p. 144
  8. ↑ Lacan, Jacques. Écrits: A Selection. Trans. Alan Sheridan. London: Tavistock Publications, 1977. p. 294


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