Changes

In [[Freud]]'s work, the term "[[affect]]" stands in opposition to the term "[[idea]]".  The opposition between the [[affect|affective]] and the [[affect|intellectual]] is one of the oldest themes in [[philosophy]], and made its way into [[Freud]]'s vocabulary via [[German]] [[psychology]].

[[Psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] is based on the [[symbolic]] [[order]], which transcends the opposition between [[affect]] and [[affect|intellect]].   On the one hand, [[psychoanalytic]] experience "is not that of an affective smoochy-woochy."<ref>{{S1}} p.55</ref>   On the other hand, nor is [[psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] an intellectual affair.

The [[Lacan]]ian [[psychoanalyst]] must thus be aware of the ways in which both "affective smoochy-woochy" and intellectualisation can be [[resistance]]s to [[analysis]], [[imaginary]] [[lure]]s of the [[ego]].   [[Anxiety]] is the only [[affect]] that is not [[truth|deceptive]].

[[Lacan]] does not propose a general theory of [[affect]]s, but only touches on them insofar as they impinge on [[psychoanalytic treatment]].   He insists on the relationship of [[affect]] to the [[symbolic]] [[order]]; [[affect]] means that the [[subject]] is affected by his relation with the [[Other]].   He argues that [[affect]]s are not [[signifier]]s but [[signal]]s,<ref>{{S7}} p. 102-3</ref> and emphasizes [[Freud]]'s position that [[repression]] does not bear upon the [[affect]] (which can only be transformed or [[displacement|displaced]]) but upon the ideational representative (which is, in [[Lacan]]'s terms, the [[signifier]]).<ref>{{Ec}} p. 714</ref>

Secondly, the [[affect]]s are [[lure]]s which can deceive the [[analyst]], and hence the [[analyst]] must be wary of being tricked by his own [[affect]]s.   This does not mean that the [[analyst]] must disregard his own feelings for the [[patient]], but simply that he must know how to make adequate use of them.

Another term in [[Lacan]]'s [[discourse]], related to but distinct from "[[affect]]," is the term "[[passion]]."   [[Lacan]] speaks of the "three fundamental passions": [[love]], [[hate]] and [[ignorance]].<ref>{{S1}} p. 271</ref>  This is a reference to Buddhist thought.<ref>{{E}} p. 94</ref> These [[passion]]s are not [[imaginary|imaginary phenomena]], but located at the junctions between the [[order|three order]]s.