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Alienation

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  The term '[[alienation]]' (''aliénation'') , used by [[Jacques Lacan]], implies both [[psychiatric]] and [[philosophical]] references. It does not constitute part of [[Freud]]'s theoretical vocabulary.  In [[Lacan]]'s work the term implies both [[psychiatric ]] and [[philosophical ]] references: ==Psychiatry== French [[psychiatry]] in the nineteenth century (e.g. Pinel) conceived of mental illness as ''aliénation mentale'', and a common term in French for 'madman' is ''aliéné.''<ref>a term which Lacan himself uses; Ec, 154</ref> ==Philosophy== The term '[[alienation]]' is the usual translation for the [[German]] term ''Entfremdung'' which features in the philosophy of [[Hegel]] and [[Marx]]. However, the [[Lacan]]ian concept of [[alienation]] differs greatly from the ways that the term is employed in the [[Hegel]]ian and [[Marx]]ist tradition.<ref>{{Sll}} p.215</ref> For [[Lacan]], [[alienation]] is not an accident that befalls the [[subject]] and which can be transcended, but an essential constitutive feature of the [[subject]].  The [[subject]] is fundamentally [[split]], alienated from himself, and there is no escape from this [[division]], no possibility of '[[wholeness]]' or [[synthesis]]. [[Alienation]] is an inevitable consequence of the process by which the [[ego]] is constituted by [[identification]] with the [[counterpart]]: "the initial synthesis of the ego is essentially an alter ego, it is alienated."<ref>{{S3}} p.39</ref> In Rimbaud's words, "I is an other."<ref>{{E}} p.23</ref> Thus [[alienation]] belongs to the [[imaginary]] [[order]]: "Alienation is constitutive of the imaginary order. Alienation is the imaginary as such."<ref>{{S3}} p.146</ref> Although [[alienation]] is an essential characteristic of all [[subjectivity]], [[psychosis]] represents a more extreme form of [[alienation]]. [[Lacan]] coined the term ''[[extimacy]]'' to designate the nature of this [[alienation]], in which [[alterity]] inhabits the innermost core of the [[subject]].  [[Lacan]] devotes the whole of chapter 16 of [[Seminar_XI|The Seminar, Book XI, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis]] (1964a) to a discussion of [[alienation]] and the related concept of [[separation]].
==Dictionary==
Inscribed in the opposition between the Same and the Other, alienation describes the condition of the subject who no longer recognizes himself, or rather can only recognize himself via the Other.  The philosophical background of this concept derives from Hegel and then Marx. Classical psychiatry used the term to classify any mental illness in which the subject no longer knew who he was. Thanks to Jacques Lacan's study of Hegel's master/slave dialectic, the term no longer refers only to mental alienation, but retains the meaning it has in philosophy.
For Lacan, who followed Hegel on this point, human desire is constituted by mediation: "Man's desire finds its meaning in the other's desire, not so much because the other holds Classical psychiatry used the keys term to classify any mental illness in which the desired object, but because his first objective is to be recognized by the other" (Lacan, p. 58). Specifically, the objective is to be recognized by the Other as a desiring subject, because the first desire is to have one's desire recognized. The conclusion is Lacan's well-known formula: "Man's desire is the desire of the Other," which doesn't mean that one desires another as object, but that one desires another desire, and wants to have one's own desire recognized by the Other. This is an echo of Hegel's master/slave dialectic (a struggle for pure prestige) where each consciousness wants to be recognized by the Other without recognizing it in turn ("each consciousness seeks the death of the other")no longer knew who he was.
In this fight Thanks to the death, the one who accepts death in order to win becomes the Master; the other will become the slave. But the Master is taken in a trap, for he owes his status to the recognition Jacques Lacan's study of a slave-consciousness. The Hegel's master/slavedialectic, however, will be liberated by the Master as his work extracts from things the consciousness of self that was lost in the struggle. The slave will end upterm no longer refers only to mental alienation, in but retains the Marxist perspective, transforming the world meaning it has in such a way that there is no place for the Masterphilosophy.
Thus the theme of alienation in Lacan refers to what is called a forced choice, or vel, which is the Latin word expressing an alternative where it is impossible to maintain two terms at once. The vel is alienating in that it gives a false choice, a forced choice ("your money or your life," "me or you"). The Master's freedom, which must pass through death to attain consciousness of self, is no freedom. Lacan derived several consequences from this structure of alternative, particularly in his critique of the Cartesian cogito, by indicating that thought and being cannot coincide. Thus, "I am where I do not think" and "it thinks there where I am not."
Piera Aulagnier also took up the notion of alienation, but even though she borrowed from For Lacan the relation of desire to the Other, her view more closely approached Freud's thinking about collective hypnosis and its relation to the ego ideal. Howeverwho followed Hegel on this point, she worked in an entirely different context, refusing to make alienation one of the givens of human existence, but instead seeing it as one of the ways the psyche attempts to resolve conflict. First, she defined the notion of alienation desire is constituted by its goal, which is "to strive for a non-conflictual state, to abolish all causes of conflict between the identifying subject and the object of identification, between the I and its ideals" (Aulagnier, 1979). Thus she connects the notion to the aims of Thanatos, as a "desire for non-desire" and it can then be used in fields as diverse as collective psychology, passionate love, gambling, and drug addiction.mediation:
Nevertheless, Piera Aulagnier insists that alienation rests on an encounter between the "Man's desire for self-alienation, on the one hand, and finds its meaning in the other's desire to alienate, on not so much because the other. The process of alienation seeks to erase holds the tension arising from this difference, whether it involves a subject that seeks keys to identify himself with the desired object identified, or a subject that wants to bring together the self image that comes back to him from others and the others themselves. Thus alienation appears but because his first objective is to be a pathological modality, like neurosis or psychosis, that attempts to regulate the conflict between identifying subject and recognized by the object identified. Whereas the neurotic differentiates between his self and its idealization and the psychotic posits the latter as realized in a delusion, the alienated subject idealizes an other who provides him with certainty. Unable to make these ideals a spur to progress, alienation produces a short circuit through the mediation of an idealized force. Alienation becomes even more effective when the alienated subject misapprehends "the accident occurring in his or her thought" (AulagnierLacan, 1979p. 58). It is as though this subject, once a prisoner, no longer has the objectivity needed to judge the situation.
In cases where a group feels alienatedSpecifically, not only the objective is a group of subjects oppressed to be recognized by the Other as a group of masters, but oppression infiltrates all relationships within the group. "Thus whatever the position one may occupy at the moment, every desiring subject is both a victim and a potential murderer, given that one could always find oneself in because the opposite position a moment later" (Aulagnier, 1979). If Jacques Lacan first desire is indebted to Hegel, Piera Aulagnier leans on Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, both of whom revisit the historical experiences that have left their mark on the twentieth century, the Holocaust and the gulagone's desire recognized.
But how does it happen that the subject chooses one outcome of alienation, rather than another? Piera Aulagnier would start from the metapsychological perspective on the conflict between the identifying subject and the object identified. This conflict The conclusion is inscribed at the heart of a pathological relation to the ideal ego and to the ideal agencies in general. Alienation is characterized (as is psychosis, but in a different way) by an asymmetry between the I and its object, with no reciprocity between what the one recognizes and what the other recognizes. Thus a dominant pole is created (passionate investment in an object, the God-drug, Chance) by means of which the subjectLacan's response will be alienated from the object that is seen as invulnerable; conversely the psychotic, who also recognizes the asymmetry in the relation, is going to try to flee from it and create outside of it a delusional object of identification that others refuse to recognize.well-known formula:
The notion "Man's desire is the desire of alienation the Other," which doesn't mean that one desires another as Piera Aulagnier conceives of it allowed for a reconsideration the nosographical categories. She particularly opened up a domain for renewed investigations on the question of addictions object, but that one desires another desire, and on wants to have one's own desire recognized by the perversionsOther.
==Psychiatry== French psychiatry This is an echo of Hegel's master/slave dialectic (a struggle for pure prestige) where each consciousness wants to be recognized by the Other without recognizing it in turn ("each consciousness seeks the nineteenth century (e.g. Pineldeath of the other") conceived of mental illness as aliÈnation mentale, and a common term in French for 'madman' is ''aliéné.''<ref>a term which Lacan himself uses; Ec, 154</ref>
==Philosophy== The term 'alienation' is In this fight to the death, the one who accepts death in order to win becomes the Master; the other will become the usual translation for slave.  But the German term ''Entfremdung'' which features Master is taken in a trap, for he owes his status to the philosophy recognition of [[Hegel]] and [[Marx]]a slave-consciousness.HoweverThe slave, however, will be liberated by the Lacanian concept of alienation differs greatly Master as his work extracts from things the ways consciousness of self that was lost in the term is employed struggle.  The slave will end up, in the Hegelian and Marxist traditionperspective, transforming the world in such a way that there is no place for the Master.<ref>as [[Jacques-Alain Miller]] points out; Sll, 215</ref>For Thus the theme of alienation in Lacanrefers to what is called a forced choice, or vel, alienation which is not the Latin word expressing an accident alternative where it is impossible to maintain two terms at once.  The vel is alienating in that befalls the [[subject]] and which can be transcendedit gives a false choice, a forced choice ("your money or your life, but an essential constitutive feature of the subject" "me or you").  The subject is fundamentally [[split]]Master's freedom, alienated from himselfwhich must pass through death to attain consciousness of self, and there is no escape freedom.  Lacan derived several consequences from this divisionstructure of alternative, particularly in his critique of the Cartesian cogito, by indicating that thought and being cannot coincide.  Thus, "I am where I do not think" and "it thinks there where I am not." Piera Aulagnier also took up the notion of alienation, no possibility but even though she borrowed from Lacan the relation of desire to the Other, her view more closely approached Freud'wholeness' or synthesiss thinking about collective hypnosis and its relation to the ego ideal.Alienation is However, she worked in an inevitable consequence entirely different context, refusing to make alienation one of the givens of human existence, but instead seeing it as one of the process ways the psyche attempts to resolve conflict.  First, she defined the notion of alienation by its goal, which is "to strive for a non-conflictual state, to abolish all causes of conflict between the identifying subject and the [[ego]] is constituted by [[object of identification]] with , between the [[counterpart]]: I and its ideals"(Aulagnier, 1979).  Thus she connects the notion to the initial synthesis aims of the ego is essentially an alter egoThanatos, as a "desire for non-desire" and it is alienatedcan then be used in fields as diverse as collective psychology, passionate love, gambling, and drug addiction."<ref>S3, 39</ref>In Rimbaud's wordsNevertheless, "I is Piera Aulagnier insists that alienation rests on an encounter between the desire for self-alienation, on the one hand, and the desire to alienate, on the other."<ref>E The process of alienation seeks to erase the tension arising from this difference, whether it involves a subject that seeks to identify himself with the object identified, 23</ref>or a subject that wants to bring together the self image that comes back to him from others and the others themselves.  Thus alienation belongs appears to be a pathological modality, like neurosis or psychosis, that attempts to regulate the [[imaginary]] [[order]]: "Alienation is constitutive of conflict between identifying subject and the imaginary orderobject identified. Alienation is  Whereas the neurotic differentiates between his self and its idealization and the psychotic posits the imaginary latter as suchrealized in a delusion, the alienated subject idealizes an other who provides him with certainty.  Unable to make these ideals a spur to progress, alienation produces a short circuit through the mediation of an idealized forceAlienation becomes even more effective when the alienated subject misapprehends "the accident occurring in his or her thought"<ref>S3(Aulagnier, 146</ref>1979).  Although alienation It is as though this subject, once a prisoner, no longer has the objectivity needed to judge the situation. In cases where a group feels alienated, not only is an essential characteristic a group of subjects oppressed by a group of masters, but oppression infiltrates all [[subjectivity]]relationships within the group.  "Thus whatever the position one may occupy at the moment, [[psychosis]] represents every subject is both a victim and a potential murderer, given that one could always find oneself in the opposite position a more extreme form of alienationmoment later" (Aulagnier, 1979)If Jacques Lacan coined is indebted to Hegel, Piera Aulagnier leans on Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, both of whom revisit the historical experiences that have left their mark on the twentieth century, the term ''[[extimacy]]'' to designate Holocaust and the gulag. But how does it happen that the nature subject chooses one outcome of this alienation, in which [[alterity]] inhabits rather than another?  Piera Aulagnier would start from the metapsychological perspective on the innermost core of conflict between the identifying subjectand the object identified. Lacan devotes This conflict is inscribed at the whole heart of chapter 16 of [[Seminar_XI|The Seminara pathological relation to the ideal ego and to the ideal agencies in general.  Alienation is characterized (as is psychosis, Book XIbut in a different way) by an asymmetry between the I and its object, The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis]] with no reciprocity between what the one recognizes and what the other recognizes.  Thus a dominant pole is created (1964apassionate investment in an object, the God-drug, Chance) by means of which the subject's response will be alienated from the object that is seen as invulnerable; conversely the psychotic, who also recognizes the asymmetry in the relation, is going to try to flee from it and create outside of it a discussion delusional object of identification that others refuse to recognize. The notion of alienation as Piera Aulagnier conceives of it allowed for a reconsideration the nosographical categories.  She particularly opened up a domain for renewed investigations on the question of addictions and on the related concept of [[separation]]perversions.
==See Also==
# Aulagnier, Piera. (1979). Les destins du plaisir: aliénation, amour, passion. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France
# Lacan, Jacques. (2002). The function and field of speech and language in psychoanalysis. InÉcrits: a selection (Bruce Fink, Trans.). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1953)
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