"This world is a veil. And the face you wear is not your own." Preacher Joe TheriotIn one of the most telling lines in True Detective, Cohle… Read more "The Hysteric-Obsessional Dialectic in True Detective"
Category: Lacan
The Evolution of Lacan’s the Name-of-the-Father
The Name of the Father is an incredibly vast and important concept in Lacan's teaching. Due to the difficulty and the immensity of the concept, I have my work cut out for me, so I have decided to approach the concept from two angles: the way that the Name-of-the-Father intersects with the three-part Oedipal dialectic developed in Seminar V, and how the transition from the Name to the Names applies to clinical settings.
Enjoying What We Don’t Have: Interview with Philosopher Todd McGowan
Film theorist and philosopher Todd McGowan recently spoke with me about his new book, Enjoying What We Don’t Have: The Political Project of Psychoanalysis. For however much… Read more "Enjoying What We Don’t Have: Interview with Philosopher Todd McGowan"
Captured in the Image: Cynicism and Culture Jamming
We used to read the news like a Dadaist — piecing together the seemingly random series of signifiers to reveal an underlying or deeper truth. In this… Read more "Captured in the Image: Cynicism and Culture Jamming"
On Shame, or the Proof of the Other’s Inexistence
In analysis, one of the most frustrating questions an analyst can ask is: "Yes, I know that's what you are saying, but is it really that way,… Read more "On Shame, or the Proof of the Other’s Inexistence"
In Defense of Theory
In a blog that I deeply respect, Marginal Utility, Rob Horning writes of Theory Cults and particularly about how the "Cult of Lacan" functioned in his comparitive-literature seminars… Read more "In Defense of Theory"
10 Things I’ve Learned from Psychoanalysis
In this post, I want to share my experience in psychoanalysis. Some things have been truly surprising. Concepts that were once elusive become apparent in a way… Read more "10 Things I’ve Learned from Psychoanalysis"
Singularity, Psychoanalysis, and the Self-Help Industry
The biggest section in American bookstores is usually the self-help section. We’re addicted to our symptoms and we're told by the industry of self-help techniques and motivational… Read more "Singularity, Psychoanalysis, and the Self-Help Industry"
Part 1 “Fleetingly Improvised Men” – Lacan’s Seminar on the Psychoses
Why does Lacan always refer to Schreber with the signifier of 'President'? Freud simply called him Schreber. The chapter omitted from Schreber's Memoirs of My Nervous Illness… Read more "Part 1 “Fleetingly Improvised Men” – Lacan’s Seminar on the Psychoses"
Video: Hegel and Lacan Seminar – Master and Slave
Last night I was happy to present on Lacan and Hegel for the Lutecium: a non-school of Psychoanalysis. My presentation addressed the way that Lacan responds to… Read more "Video: Hegel and Lacan Seminar – Master and Slave"
Sincerity and Kant’s Inner Religion
From Immanuel Kant, Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone (trs. Greene & Hudson), p. 178, n. 2: O sincerity! Thou Astraea, that hast fled from earth… Read more "Sincerity and Kant’s Inner Religion"
Improving the Interstitial Space – Lacan and Democracy
"Structures do not take to the streets." Lacan on May 68' At the core of the psychoanalytic political project (Badiou, Zizek, Laclau, etc.) is the idea of… Read more "Improving the Interstitial Space – Lacan and Democracy"
The Category of the Real
Freud’s theory of the unconscious was formed around Aristotle’s notion of the automaton. Aristotle characterized the real as a category always beyond repetition and returning – the… Read more "The Category of the Real"
Object Petit a and the Left
In Zizek’s Tarrying with the Negative, he compares how the American protestant “if it suffers it must be good” attitude to how popular culture has made Mohamed…… Read more “Object Petit a and the Left”
Fundamentalism and the Other
The fundamentalist holds his “belief” as closest to science, which is why the Fundamentalist’s real difficulty is actually faith as a matter of having to believe -…… Read more “Fundamentalism and the Other”
The Need for an Imagined Enemy: Must One Be a Saint to Know What they Want?
Because I wish to outline the basis of a society formed around desire I depend on your complicity of my desire to keep the fantasy of this…… Read more “The Need for an Imagined Enemy: Must One Be a Saint to Know What they Want?”