Jacques Lacan and the Philosophy of Psychoanalysis

by Ellie Ragland-Sullivan

This volume is the first clear and comprehensive critical analysis of Jacques Lacan's thought for the English-speaking world.  With Jacques Lacan and the philosophy of Psychoanalysis Ellie Ragland-Sullivan not only fills that gap but also provides the foundation upon which all future studies of Lacan must build. Working principally from the legendary but seldom-analyzed Seminars, Ragland-Sullivan clarifies and synthesizes Lacan's major concepts.  Using empirical data as well as Lacan's texts, she demonstrates how Lacan's teachings constitute a new epistemology that goes far beyond conventional thinking in psychoanalysis, psychology, philosophy, and linguistics.
 

Genres: Psychoanalysis

384 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1985

Reviews

[Peter Mathews · Rating 2 out of 5]

As its title suggests, Jacques Lacan and the Philosophy of Psychoanalysis attempts to locate Lacan's work in relation to the discourse of philosophy. Such a task might seem an obvious one - after all, Lacan talks about a range of different philosophies in his seminars and writings - yet he always insisted that he was not a philosopher, but a psychoanalyst. In the opening of her book, therefore, Ragland-Sullivan examines the tension between these two roles and proposes to synthesize them in the course of her book.

What then follows is an exposition of Lacan's major theories, with Ragland-Sullivan providing commentary and context on his ideas about identity and subjectivity (Ch.1), the four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis from Seminar XI (Ch.2), the impact of the Lacanian registers on the theory of cognition (Ch.3), Lacan's contribution to the theory of language (Ch.4), and finally, an exposition of Lacan's ideas about sexual identity (Ch.5).

Ragland-Sullivan's approach is clinical and well-researched, but boy is it ever didactic. From the outset it is clear that Lacan is the Master, that his ideas are the yardstick by which all else is to be measured, and any questioning or doubt is to be dismissed as a political attack or willful misreading. Particularly annoying, in this respect, is Ragland-Sullivan's habit of summarily dismissing critics who, I think, have a genuine point. For instance: "Roustang misinterprets Lacan's statments regarding the liquidation of a transference in analysis" (p.123) - but how? There are no quotations from Roustang, no analysis of his actual critique, just a two-sentence assertion that Lacan has been misread and Roustang is wrong.

"Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari miss the point..." (p.13); "Irigaray misreads Lacan in much the same way Deleuze and Guattari do..." (p.273); "Deleuze and Guattari also misrepresent Lacan..." (p.272); "Marxist Louis Althusser's famous misreading of Lacan..." (p.272) - the list of examples of this kind of defensive mindset goes on and on. Lacan is never, ever acknowledged by Ragland-Sullivan to be wrong or open to critique, so that in every circumstance his "inerrance" is merely the result of a misreading or a political distortion. All hail Saint Lacan.

I understand Ragland-Sullivan's position. She is a disciple who wishes to defend a system of thought (psychoanalysis) - and yet the paradox of her position is precisely that Lacan's thought is designed to liberate us from this kind of discipleship. Roustang is right when he claims, in Dire Mastery, that the goal of psychoanalysis is to abolish itself, and that it only evades this goal by the need to transmit its methodologies to a new generation. So while this book contains a lot of useful technical information about Lacan and his ideas, for me it betrays his project by trying to turn it into a kind of totalitarian orthodoxy.

[Miio Seppänen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As clear as it gets with Lacan, this book offers in my view a systematic and coherent interpretation of some of the philosophical questions behind Lacanian psychoanalytic practice. For those who read Lacan for philosophical inquiry like me, this is a nice read. Book discusses mainly Lacan's early seminars in chronological order and some later work as it is published, like a collection of articles in Ecrits and some later seminars. Like stated above, this books discusses explicitly philosophical questions in Lacan's work and does not slip into clinical practice which comes after the fact. The author's discussion on numerous critics on these philosophical questions and about systematic reading on Lacan is very welcome.

[Micah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat of an emphasis on the Lacan of the Imaginary and the distinction between moi and je; unusual (I think) for trying to relate Lacan to empirical studies and neuroscience, and making much of Lacan's apparent claim that the unconscious counts in Fregean numbers. Somehow I didn't find it very engaging, though.

[Purepazaak · Rating 2 out of 5]

many errors with regards to the explanations of other philosophers.