You are on page 1of 2

LIBRARY / JACQUES LACAN / BIOGRAPHY

Biography|Bibliography|Articles|Quotes|Links

JACQUES MARIE MILE LACAN - BIOGRAPHY


JacquesMariemileLacanwasbornin1901toabourgeoisCatholicfamily.Hewasanadmirablestudent,and
excelledespeciallyatLatinandphilosophy.Hewenttomedicalschool,andbeganstudyingpsychoanalysisinthe
1920swiththepsychiatristGatandeClrambault.HestudiedattheFacultdeMdecinedeParis,andworkedwith
patientssufferingfromdliresdeux,or"automatism,"aconditioninwhichthepatientbelieveshisactions,writing,
orspeech,arecontrolledbyanoutsideandomnipotentforce.AgrowingpsychoanalyticalmovementinFrancehad
beenshowingaparticularinterestinsimilarpatients.Lacanwrotehisthesisforhisdoctoratd'tatin1932titledDe
lapsychoseparanoaquedanssesrapportsaveclapersonnalit,inwhichhedrewaconnectionbetween
phsychiatricmedicineandpsychoanalysis.Itwasthiscombinationofthetheoreticalandtheclinicalthatwould
becomeLacan'spracticeandinformwhathewouldcallhis"returntoFreud."Inhislifetime,Lacanextendedthefield
ofpsychoanalysisintophilosophy,linguistics,literatureandmathematics,throughclosereadingsofFreudand
continuedclinicalpractice.
IndiscussionsofLacan'scareer,itisoftendividedintofourstages.Thefirst,from1926to1953,marksanevolution
fromconventionalpsychiatricworktothegradualinclusionofpsychoanalyticalconceptsintheclinic,bothin
diagnosisandtreatment.Hisfirstpublicationsarecasestudies.In1936Lacandevelopedhistheoryofthe"Mirror
Stage",andpublishedanumberofarticlesaboutitsimportanceinthedevelopmentofthesubject.Thisworkwas
particularlyinfluencedbythepsychologistHenriWallon,aswellasJ.M.Baldwin,CharlotteBhler,andOttoRank.
TheMirrorStageconcernstheabilityofaninfant(6to18monthsofage)torecognizeitsownimageinmirror,
beforeitisabletospeakorhavecontroloveritsmotorskills.Theinfantmustseetheimageofitselfasbothbeing
itselfandnotitself,inthatitisthereflectionofitsownfaceandonlyareflectedimageatthesametime.Tobecome
asubject,orsocialbeing,theinfantmustcometotermswiththereflectionnotbeingidenticaltoitselfasasubject.
Thismarksthechild'sentryintolanguage,andtheformationofego.TheMirrorStagechangestheemphasisin
subjectformationfromabiologicalbasetoasymbolicorlanguagebase.AsLacanwritesintheDiscourseofRome,
"Manspeaksbutitisbecausethesymbolhasmadehimman."
TheDiscourseofRomeisthemorecommonnamegiventoLacan'slecturepresentedinRomein1953originally
titledFonctionetchampdelaparoleetdulangageenpsychanalyse.Thispaperbecamethemanifestoofthenew
Socitfranaisedepsychanalytique(SFP),whichLacanformedthesameyearwhenhebrokewiththe
InternationalPsychoAnalyticalAssociation(IPA).HisbreakwiththeIPAwasbasedonmajordisagreementsLacan
hadwiththeegopsychologyofthegroup,whichplacedtheegoattheoriginofpsychicstability.Lacanargued
againsttherapeuticpretensions,claimingthattheegocouldneverbe"healed",andthatthetrueintensionof
psychoanalysiswasnevercure,butanalysisitself.
Lacanattractedphilosophers,linguists,andotherthinkerstohisrenownedweeklyseminaratSt.Anne'sChurch.
Barthes,Foucault,LeviStrauss,andAlthussersatinhisaudienceandwereinfluencedbyhiswork.Fromthis
lectureseriescamewhatisperhapshismostcelebratedwork,crits(1966).
From195363LacanconcentratedonstructurallinguisticsandtheroleofthesymbolicintheworkofFreud.Hefelt
thatFreudhadunderstoodthathumanpsychologyislinguisticallybased,butwouldhaveneededSaussure's
vocabularyandstructuralistconceptoflanguageasasystemofdifferencestoarticulatetherelationship.InLes
Psychoses:SeminarIII,Lacanclaimsthattheunconsciousis"structuredlikealanguage,"andgovernedbythe
orderofthesignifier.Thisiscontrarytotheideathattheunconsciousisgovernedbyautonomousrepressedor
instinctualdesires.Saussure'slinguistictheory,especiallyontherelationofconstantseparationbetweensignifier
andsignified,ledLacantoshowthatnosignifiereverrestsonanyparticularsignified.Hewentontoarguethatthe
Symbolicorder,theorderofsigns,representations,significationsandimages,istheplacewheretheindividualis
formedasasubject.Hestatedthatthesubjectisalwaysthesubjectofthesignifier.
"Iidentifymyselfinlanguage,butonlybylosingmyselfinitlikeanobject.Whatisrealizedinmyhistoryisnotthe
pastdefiniteofwhatwas,sinceitisnomore,oreventhepresentperfectofwhathasbeeninwhatIam,butthe
futureanteriorofwhatIshallhavebeenforwhatIamintheprocessofbecoming."(Fromcrits)
LacantranslatedMartinHeidegger'sworkintoFrenchandtheevidenceofHeidegger'sinfluencecanbereadin
Lacan'sessayTheFunctionandFieldofSpeechinPsychoanalysis,inwhichheconcentratesontheideathat
subjectivityissymbolicallyconstituted.LacanwasalsoinfluencedbyHegel'swork,andbyhisdiscussionswithboth
SartreandMerleauPonty.Hewasthefirsttointroducestructurallinguisticstopsychoanalyticaltheory,andbecause
ofthisheattractedattentionbothnationallyand,laterinthe1970s,internationally.Hewasconsideredunorthodox
andunusualinhispsychoanalyticalpractice,andhislectureswereaformofpracticealongsidehisworkasan
analyst,inthattheyputhistheoryintopracticalform.Hislecturesmadehistheoryevident:thatlanguagecansay
somethingotherthanwhatitsays,andthatitspeaksthroughhumansasmuchastheyspeakit.
LanguageisoftheSymbolicorder,oneofthreeordersthatconstitutethesubjectinLacanianpsychoanalysis,the
othertwobeingtheImaginaryandtheReal.TheImaginaryistheplacewherethesubjectfailstoseethelackof
realityinthesymbolic,andmisrecognizesitsnature,believinginitstransparency.TheImaginaryistheplaceof
necessaryillusion.AttheleveloftheImaginary,thedecenteringofthesubjectthatoccursattheMirrorPhaseisnot
acknowledged.TheRealcanbeunderstood,inonesense,asthatthatisalways"initsplace,"becauseonlywhatis

absentfromitsplacecanbesymbolized.TheSymbolicisthesubstituteforwhatismissingfromitsplacelanguage
cannotbeinthesameplaceasitsreferent.
Intheyears196473LacandepartedfurtherstillfromFreudandtraditionalpsychoanalysis.Hisdiscoursebecame
uniquely"Lacanian",andhebecameknownforhisneologismsandcomplexdiagrams.Hisviewoftheegoasthe
seatofneurosisratherthantheplaceofpsychicintegration,andtheSymbolicorderastheprimaryplaceforsubject
formation,madehisworkgroundbreaking.HestillclaimedtobecontinuingFreud'swork,whichhadonlybeen
obscuredbyFreud'sfollowers,andthisaccusationcausedtensionwithintheSFP.Lacanleftthisgroupin1963to
formthecoleFreudiennedeParis(EFP).Thedecisiontostartthenewgroupwasinspiredbyaseriesoflectures,
givenatthecolePratiquedesHautesEtudes,inwhichhereadFreud'stextscloselybutalsointroducednewterms
tothereadingsfromoutsidetheoriginalwork.
Theselectureattractedstillmoreattentionfromoutsidethepsychoanalyticalcircle,includingthepress,who
associatedLacanwiththe"structuralists"practicinginFranceatthesametime.ThetrainingmethodsofLacan's
newschool,theEFP,departedconsiderablyfromthetraditionaltrainingofferedtoanalystsattheIPA,causingthe
IPAdistress.TensionbetweenLacanandthetraditionalpsychoanalyticcommunitygrewgreaterstillwhenhetook
thepositionof"ScientificDirector"attheUniversityofParisatVincennesin1974,headingthedepartmentof
psychoanalysiswhichhadopenedin1969.LacanhopedthenewdepartmentattheUniversitywouldintegrate
linguistics,logicandmathematicswithpsychoanalyticaltraining,givingitascientificrigor.
Lacanstrivedtocreateamoreprecisemathematicallybasedtheoryinthelaststageofhiscareer.His"metatheory"
ofpsychoanalysisusesmathematics,castingthetrilogyheconceivedofearlier(theReal,Symbolic,andImaginary)
inthelanguageoftopologyandmathemesratherthanlinguistics.Heclaimedthat"Lamathmatisationseuleatteint
unreel."From1974hestudiedtheintersectionofthethreeregistersthroughcomplicatedtopologicalfigures.He
begantoconfoundevenhismostfaithfulfollowers,andstudentsbecamesuspiciousofhowapplicablethistypeof
educationmightbetotheirclinicalpractice.LacandecidedtodissolvetheEFPandfoundanotherassociation,the
coledelaCauseFreudienne,whichhemaintaineduntilhisdeathin1981.Bythetimeofhisdeath,Lacanhad
becomeoneofthemostinfluentialandcontroversialintellectsintheworld.Hisworkhashadasignificanteffecton
literature,filmstudies,andphilosophy,aswellasonthetheoryandpracticeofpsychoanalysis.

top

You might also like