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[[Truth]] is one of the most central, and yet most [[complex ]] [[terms ]] in [[Lacan]]'s [[discourse]].
==Psychoanalysis==
The [[aim]] of [[psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] is to lead the [[analysand]] to articulate the [[truth]] of his or her [[desire]].
[[Truth]] does not await, in some preformed [[state ]] of fullness, to be revealed to the [[analysand]] by the [[analyst]], but is rather constructed in the [[dialectic]]al movement of the [[treatment]] itself.<ref>{{Ec}} p.144</ref>
==Philosophy==
[[Lacan]] argues, in opposition to the traditions of classical [[philosophy]], that [[truth]] is not beautiful<ref>{{S7}} p.217</ref> and that it is not necessarily beneficial to learn the [[truth]].<ref>{{S17}} p.122</ref>
[[Lacan]] speaks [[about ]] "[[truth]]" in the [[singular]], not as a single [[universal]] [[truth]], but as [[particular]] [[truth]], unique to each [[subject]].<ref>{{S7}} p.24</ref>
==Language==
[[Truth]] is only a meaningful [[concept ]] in the context of [[language]]:
<blockquote>"It is with the appearance of [[language]] that the [[dimension ]] of [[truth]] emerges."<ref>{{E}} p.172</ref></blockquote>
[[Psychoanalytic]] [[treatment]] is based on the fundamental premise that [[speech]] is the only means of revealing the [[truth]] about [[desire]].
From [[Lacan]]'s earliest writings, the term "[[truth]]" has metaphysical, even mystical, nuances which problematise any attempt to articulate [[truth]] and [[science]].
It is not that [[Lacan]] denies that [[science]] aims to [[know ]] the [[truth]], but simply that [[science]] cannot [[claim ]] to monopolise [[truth]] as its exclusive property.<ref>{{Ec}} p.79</ref>
[[Lacan]] later argues that [[science]] is in fact based on a [[foreclosure]] of the concept of [[truth]] as [[cause]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.874</ref>
The concept of [[truth]] is essential for [[understanding ]] [[madness]], and modern [[science]] renders [[madness]] meaningless by ignoring the concept of [[truth]].<ref>{{Ec}} p.153-4</ref>
==Truth and Deception==
[[Truth]] is intimately connected with [[deception]], since lies can often reveal the [[truth]] about [[desire]] more eloquently than honest statements.
[[Deception]] and lies are not the opposite of [[truth]]: on the contrary, they are inscribed in the [[text ]] of [[truth]].
The [[analyst]]'s [[role ]] is to reveal the [[truth]] inscribed in the [[deception]] of the [[analysand]]'s [[speech]].
Although the [[analysand]] may in effect be saying to the [[analyst]] "I am deceiving you," the [[analyst]] says to the [[analysand]]:
<blockquote>"In this I am deceiving to you, what you are sending as [[message ]] is what I express to you, and in doing so you are telling the truth.<ref>{{S11}} p.139-40; {{S4}} p.107-8)</ref></blockquote>
==False Appearances==
The false [[appearance]]s presented by the [[analysand]] are not merely obstacles that the [[analyst]] must expose and discard in [[order ]] to discover the [[truth]]; on the contrary, the [[analyst]] must take [[them ]] into account (see [[semblance]]).
==Error and Mistakes==
[[Psychoanalysis]] has shown that the [[truth]] about [[desire]] is often revealed by mistakes ([[parapraxes]]).
The complex relations between [[truth]], mistakes, error and [[deception]] are evoked by [[Lacan]] in a typically elusive phrase when he describes "the [[structuration ]] of speech in [[search ]] of truth" as "error taking flight in deception and recaptured by mistake."<ref>{{S1}} p. 273</ref>
==Fiction==
[[Lacan]] does not use the term "[[fiction]]" in the [[sense ]] of 'a falsehood', but in the sense of a [[scientific]] [[construct]].<ref>{{S7}} p.12</ref>
Thus [[Lacan]]'s term "[[fiction]]" corresponds to [[Freud]]'s term ''Konvention'', convention,<ref>{{S11}} p.163</ref> and has more in common with [[truth]] than falsehood.
The opposition which [[Lacan]] draws between [[truth]] and the [[real]] dates back to his pre-war writings,<ref>{{Ec}} p.75</ref> and is taken up at various points;
<blockquote>"We are used to the real. The truth we [[repress]]."<ref>{{E}} p.169</ref></blockquote>
However, [[Lacan]] also points out that [[truth]] is similar to the [[real]]; it is [[impossible ]] to articulate the [[whole ]] [[truth]], and "[p]recisely because of this [[impossibility]], [[truth]] aspires to the real."<ref>{{TV}} p. 83</ref>
==See Also==
==References==
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