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''{{Top}}éthique''{{Bottom}}

=====Jacques Lacan =====[[Lacan]] asserts that [[ethics|ethical thought ]] "is at the center centre of our [[work ]] as [[analysts]],"<ref>{{S7 }} p. 38</ref> and a [[whole ]] year of his [[seminar ]] is devoted to discussing the articulation of [[ethics ]] and [[psychoanalysis]].<ref>Lacan {{L}} ''[[Seminar VI|Le Séminaire. Livre VI. L'éthique de la psychanalyse, 1959-60]]''. Ed. [[Jacques-Alain Miller]]. [[Paris]]: Seuil, 1986 [''[[Seminar VI|The Seminar. Book VI. The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, 1959-60]]''. Trans. Dennis Porter. [[London]]: Routledge, 1992].</ref>

=====Psychoanalytic Treatment=====Simplifying matters somewhat, it could be said that [[ethics|ethical problems ]] converge in [[psychoanalytic treatment ]] from two sides: * the side of the [[analysand]] and * the side of the [[analyst]].

on When [[ethics|morality]] gains the side of upper hand in this conflict, and the analysand [[drives]] are too strong to be [[sublimation|sublimated]], [[sexuality]] is either expressed in [[perversion|perverse forms]] or [[repression|repressed]], the problem of latter leading to [[guiltneurosis]] and the pathogenic nature of civilized morality.

In his earlier work[[Freud]]'s view, Freud conceives of a basic conflcit between the demands of "[[ethics|civilized morality]]" and is at the essentially amoral sexual drives root of the [[subjectneurosis|nervous illness]].<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud|'Civilized' Sexual Morality and Modern Nervous Illness]]." 1908d. [[SE]] IX, 179</ref>

When =====Sense of Guilt==========Superego=====[[Freud]] further developed his [[ideas]] on the pathogenic nature of [[ethics|morality gains the upper hand ]] in this conflicthis [[theory]] of an [[unconscious]] [[sense]] of [[guilt]], [[superego]], and an [[superego|interior moral agency]] which becomes more cruel to the extent that the drives are too strong [[ego]] submits to be sublimated, sexuality is either express in perverse forms or repressed, its [[demand]]s.<ref>{{F}} ''[[Works of Sigmund Freud|The Ego and the latter leading to Id]]''. 1923b. [[neurosisSE]]XIX, 3.</ref>).

In Freud's view, then=====The Analyst=====On the side of the [[analyst]] is the problem of how to deal with the [[ethics|pathogenic morality]] and [[unconscious]] guilt of the [[analysand]], civilized morality is at and also with the root whole range of nervous illness[[ethics|ethical problems]] that may arise in [[psychoanalytic treatment]].<ref> Freud 1908d</ref>

Freud further developed his ideas on the pathogenic nature =====Sense of morality in his theory of an unconscious sense of guiltGuilt=====Firstly, and in his later concept of how is the superego, an interior moral agency which becomes more cruel [[analyst]] to respond to the extent that the [[egoanalysand]] submits to its 's sense of [[demandguilt]]s.<ref>Freud 1923b</ref>?

On the side [[Freud]]'s views of [[ethics|morality]] as a pathogenic force might seem to imply that the [[analyst is the problem of how ]] simply has to deal with the pathogenic morality and unconscious guilt of [[help]] the [[analysand, and also with the whole range of ethical problems that may arise in psychoanalytic treatment]] free himself from [[moral]] constraints.

These two soruces However, which such an [[interpretation]] may find some support in [[Freud]]'s earlier work,<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of ethical problems pose different questions for Sigmund Freud|'Civilized' Sexual Morality and Modern Nervous Illness]]." 1908d. [[SE]] IX, 179</ref> [[Lacan]] is firmly opposed to such a view of [[Freud]], preferring the analyst:more [[pessimistic]] [[Freud]] of ''[[Civilization and Its Discontents]]''<ref>{{F}} ''[[Civilization and Its Discontents]]''. 1930a. [[SE]] XXI, 59.</ref> and [[stating]] categorically that "Freud was in no way a progressive."<ref>{{S7}} p. 183</ref>

Firstly[[Psychoanalysis]], then, how is the analyst to respond to the analysand's sense of guilt? Certainly not by telling the analysand that he is not really guilt, or by attempting "to soften, blunt or attenuate" his sense of guilt,<ref>s7, 3</ref> or by analyzing it away as simply a neurotic illusion.On the contrary, Lacan argues that the analyst must take the analysand's sense of guilt seriously, for at bottom whenever the analysand feels guilty it is because he has, at some point, given way on his desire."From an analytic point of view, the only thing of which one can be guilty is of having given ground relative to one's desire."<ref> S7, 319</ref>Therefore, when the analysand presents him with a sense of guilt, the analyst's task is to discover ''where'' the analysand has given way on his desirelibertine ethos.

56On the one hand, he cannot simply align himself with [[ethics|civilised morality]], since this [[ethics|morality]] is pathogenic.  On the [[other]] hand, nor can he simply adopt an opposing libertine approach, since this too remains within the field of [[morality]].<ref>{{S7}} p. 3-74</ref>  The rule of [[neutrality]] may seem to offer the analyst a way out of this dilemma, but in fact it does not, for [[Lacan]] points out that there is no such [[thing]] as an [[ethics|ethically neutral position]].  The [[analyst]] cannot avoid, then, having to face [[ethics|ethical questions]]. =====Neutral Ethical Position=====An [[ethics|ethical position]] is implicit in every way of directing [[psychoanalytic treatment]], whether this is admitted or not by the [[analyst]].  The [[ethics|ethical position]] of the [[analyst]] is most clearly revealed by the way that he formulates the [[end of analysis|goal of the treatment]].<ref>{{S7}} p. 207</ref>  For example the formulations of [[ego-psychology]] [[about]] the [[adaptation]] of the [[ego]] to [[reality]] imply a [[ethics|normative ethics]].<ref>{{S7}} p. 207</ref>  It is in opposition to this [[ethics|ethical position]] that [[Lacan]] sets out to formulate his own [[ethics|analytic ethic]]. =====Psychoanalytic Ethics=====The [[ethics|analytic ethic]] that [[Lacan]] formulates is an [[ethics|ethic]] which relates [[act]]ion to [[desire]].  [[Lacan]] summarizes it in the question "Have you acted in conformity with the desire that is in you?"<ref>{{S7}} p. 314</ref>.  He contrasts this [[ethics|ethic]] with the "[[ethics|traditional ethics]]"<ref>{{S7}} p. 314</ref> of [[Aristotle]], [[Kant]] and other [[philosophy|moral philosophers]] on several grounds. =====Traditional Ethics==========Good=====Firstly, [[ethics|traditional ethics]] revolves around the the [[concept]] of the [[ethics|Good]], proposing different "[[ethics|goods]]" which all compete for the [[position]] of the [[ethics|Sover­eign Good]].  The [[ethics|psychoanalytic ethic]], however, sees the [[ethics|Good]] as an obstacle in the path of [[desire]]; thus in [[psychoanalysis]] "a radical [[repudiation]] of a certain [[ideal]] of the [[good]] is necessary."<ref>{{S7}} p. 230</ref>  The [[ethics|psychoanalytic ethic]] rejects all ideals, including ideals of "[[happiness]]" and "health"; and the fact that [[ego-psychology]] has embraced these ideals bars it from claiming to be a [[form]] of [[psychoanalysis]].<ref>{{S7}} p. 219</ref> The [[desire of the analyst]] cannot therefore be the [[desire]] to "do good" or "to [[cure]]".<ref>{{S7}} p. 218</ref> =====Pleasure=====Secondly, [[ethics|traditional ethics]] has always tended to link the [[ethics|good]] to [[pleasure]]; [[ethics|moral thought]] has "developed along the paths of an essentially hedonistic problematic."<ref>{{S7}} p. 221</ref>  The [[ethics|psychoanalytic ethic]], however, cannot take such an approach because [[treatment|psychoanalytic experience]] has revealed the duplicity of [[pleasure principle|pleasure]]; there is a [[limit]] to [[pleasure principle|pleasure]] and, when this is transgressed, [[pleasure principle|pleasure]] becomes [[jouissance|pain]]. ====="Service of Goods"=====Thirdly, [[ethics|traditional ethics]] revolves around "the service of goods"<ref>{{S7}} p. 314</ref> which puts work and a safe, ordered [[existence]] before questions of [[desire]]; it tells [[people]] to make their [[desire]]s wait.<ref>{{S7}} p. 315</ref> The [[ethics|psychoanalytic ethic]], on the other hand, forces the [[subject]] to confront the relation between his [[act]]ions and his [[desire]] in [[time|immediacy]] of the [[time|present]]. =====Psychoanalytic Theory=====After his 1959-60 [[seminar]] on [[ethics]], [[Lacan]] continues to locate [[ethics|ethical questions]] at the heart of [[psychoanalytic theory]].  He [[interpretation|interprets]] the ''soll'' in [[Freud]]'s famous phrase ''Wo es war, soll Ich werden'' ("Where id was, there ego shall be")<ref>{{F}} ''[[Works of Sigmund Freud|New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis]]''. 1933a: [[SE]] XXII, 80</ref> as an [[ethics|ethical duty]],<ref>{{E}} p. 128</ref> and argues that the status of the [[unconscious]] is not [[ontological]] but [[ethical]].<ref>{{S11}} p. 33</ref>. =====Speech=====In the 1970s he shifts the emphasis of [[ethics|psychoanalytic ethics]] from the question of [[act]]ing ("Have you acted in accordance with your desire?") to the question of [[speech]]; it now becomes an [[ethics|ethic]] of "[[speaking]] well" (''l'éthique du Bien-[[dire]]''.<ref>{{L}} 1973a: 65</ref>  However, this is more a [[difference]] of emphasis than an opposition, since for [[Lacan]] to [[speak]] well is in itself an [[act]]. ==See Also=={{See}}{{Also}} ==References==<div style="font-size:11px" class="references-small"><references/></div> [[Category:Psychoanalysis]][[Category:Jacques Lacan]][[Category:Dictionary]][[Category:Practice]][[Category:Ethics]][[Category:Concepts]][[Category:Terms]][[Category:OK]] __NOTOC__