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=====Jacques Lacan=====[[Lacan]] asserts that [[ethics (Èthique) |ethical thought]] "is at the 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>{{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>

Lacan asserts that ethical thought 'is at the centre of our work as analysts' (S7, 38), and a whole year of his seminar is devoted to discussing the articulation of ethics and psychoanalysis (Lacan, 1959-60).=====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]]. =====The Analysand=====On the side of the [[analysand ]] is the problem of [[guilt ]] and the pathogenic [[nature ]] of civilised [[civilized]] [[morality]].  =====Civilized Morality=====In his earlier work, [[Freud conceives of ]] posited a basic [[conflict ]] between the demands [[demand]]s of 'civilised "[[ethics|civilized morality' ]]" and the essentially [[moral|amoral ]] [[sexual drives ]] [[drive]]s of the [[subject]].  When [[ethics|morality ]] gains the upper hand in this conflict, and the [[drives ]] are too strong to be [[sublimation|sublimated]], [[sexuality ]] is either expressed in [[perversion|perverse forms ]] or [[repression|repressed]], the latter leading to [[neurosis]].  In [[Freud]]'s view, then, civilised "[[ethics|civilized morality ]]" is at the root of [[neurosis|nervous illness (]].<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of Sigmund Freud, |'Civilized' Sexual Morality and Modern Nervous Illness]]." 1908d). [[SE]] IX, 179</ref> =====Sense of Guilt==========Superego=====[[Freud ]] further developed his [[ideas ]] on the pathogenic nature of [[ethics|morality ]] in his [[theory ]] of an [[unconscious ]] [[sense ]] of [[guilt]], and in his later concept of the [[superego]], an [[superego|interior moral agency ]] which becomes more cruel to the extent that the [[ego ]] submits to its demands ([[demand]]s.<ref>{{F}} ''[[Works of Sigmund Freud|The Ego and the Id]]''. 1923b. [[SE]] XIX, 1923b3.</ref>). =====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]], and also with the whole range of [[ethics|ethical problems ]] that may arise in [[psychoanalytic treatment]]. These two sources  =====Sense of ethical problems pose different questions for the analyst:Guilt=====Firstly, how is the [[analyst ]] to respond to the [[analysand]]'s sense of [[guilt]]?  Certainly not by telling the [[analysand ]] that he is not really [[guilty]], or by attempting '"to soften, blunt or attenuate' " his sense of [[guilt (]],<ref>{{S7, }} p. 3), </ref> or by analysing [[treatment|analyzing]] it away as 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' (S7, 319).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 desire.=====Superego=====Secondly, how is the [[analyst ]] to respond to the [[ethics|pathogenic morality ]] which [[acts ]] via the [[superego]]?  [[Freud]]'s views of [[ethics|morality ]] as a pathogenic force might seem to imply that the [[analyst ]] simply has to [[help ]] the [[analysand ]] free himself from [[moral ]] constraints.  However, while which such an [[interpretation ]] may find some support in [[Freud]]'s earlier work (,<ref>{{F}} "[[Works of 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 more [[pessimistic ]] [[Freud ]] of ''[[Civilization and Its Discontents (Freud]]''<ref>{{F}} ''[[Civilization and Its Discontents]]''. 1930a. [[SE]] XXI, 1930a) 59.</ref> and [[stating ]] categorically that '"Freud was in no way a progressive' (."<ref>{{S7, }} p. 183). </ref>  [[Psychoanalysis]], then, is not simply a libertine ethos. =====Psychoanalytic Treatment=====This seems to [[present ]] the [[analyst ]] with a moral dilemma.  On 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 (see ]].<ref>{{S7, }} p. 3-4). </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, 302)}} 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 action [[act]]ion to [[desire (see AcT)]].  [[Lacan summarises ]] 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 Sovereign [[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 (see JOUISSANCE)]]. ====="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 desires [[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 actions [[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 (Sll, ]].<ref>{{S11}} p. 33)</ref>.  =====Speech=====In the 1970s he shifts the emphasis of [[ethics|psychoanalytic ethics ]] from the question of acting [[act]]ing ('"Have you acted in accordance with your desireTdesire?") to the question of [[speech]]; it now becomes an [[ethics|ethic ]] of '"[[speaking ]] well" ('' (l'Èthique éthique du Bien-direy (Lacan, [[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]].It is fundamentally an ethical position which separates psychoanalysis from SUGGESTION; psychoanalysis is based on a basic respect for the patient's right to resist domination, whereas suggestion sees such resistance as an obstacle to be crushed.==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__