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[[beautiful soul ]] (belle ‚me)

The beautiful soul (Ger. schˆne Seele) is a [[stage ]] in the [[dialectic ]] of [[self]]-[[consciousness ]] which Hegel describes in the [[Phenomenology ]] of Spirit (Hegel, 1807). The beautiful soul projects its own disorder onto the [[world ]] and attempts to [[cure ]] this disorder by imposing 'the law of the heart' on everyone else. For [[Lacan]], the beautiful soul is a perfect [[metaphor ]] for the ego; 'the ego of modern man . . . has taken on its [[form ]] in the [[dialectical ]] [[impasse ]] of the belle ‚me who does not recognise his very own raison d'Ítre in the disorder that he denounces in the world' (E, 70). In a more extreme way, the beautiful soul also illustrates the [[structure ]] of [[paranoiac ]] [[misrecognition ]] (see M…CONNAISSANCE) (Ec, 172-3).The [[concept ]] of the beautiful soul illustrates the way that neurotics often deny their own [[responsibility ]] for what is going on around [[them ]] (see AcT). The [[ethics ]] of [[psychoanalysis ]] enjoin analysands to recognise their own part in their sufferings. Thus when [[Dora ]] complains [[about ]] [[being ]] treated as an [[object ]] of [[exchange ]] by the men around her, [[Freud]]'s first [[intervention ]] is to confront her with her own complicity in this exchange (Ec, 218-19; see Freud, 1905e).

<ref>Phenomenology, SS 632-71. THis is one of [[Zizek]]'s most frequently cited [[Hegelian ]] themes.</ref>