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In his pre-[[{{Y}}|1950 ]] [[Jacques Lacan:Bibliography|writings]], [[Lacan]] sees [[psychoanalysis]] and [[psychology]] as parallel disciplines which can cross-fertilise 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>

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]]):  <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>  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>

Thus <blockquote>"The psychological is, if we try to grasp it as firmly as possible, the ethological, that is the [[psychologywhole]] is reduced to general laws of behaviour which apply to all the [[biological]] [[animalindividual]]'s, including [[humanbehaviour]] in relation to his [[beingnatural]]s; [[Lacanenvironment]] rejects "the doctrine of a discontinuity between animal psychology and human psychology which is far away from our thought."<ref>{{EcS3}} p. 4847</ref></blockquote>

HoweverThis 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]] vigorously rejects does [[state]] that the [[biology|behaviourist theory]] according to which of the same general laws of behaviour are sufficient to explain all [[humanego]] and of [[psychicnarcissism]] phenomena'extend' modern ethological research.{{Ec}} p. 472</ref>

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]].

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".