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    ” {LAGAN AND -THE SUIJECY OF PYCHIOANALYSIS The Theme ofthe Thee Gaskets” (i) va ‘On Naren. An Intec (rghgy oh 1 ign te Pls Prine aga, ok Naw naar acre on Phra 93 v0 28 Gelman, Dan Hager, M. Finding the Hie Free.” Newseeh, $0 edger M Benga ine (ig) Traslated by| Nasqurscand ets, New York Hamp & Raves ny Jokotwon, R. "Two Aspects of Language sr To Types of Apa Distances” Ink Jakob and Mlle aaa Legge The Hague Mouton 1956 iis E "On Precocious Mental Ps (Capel 590-50 Lae Te Sinai. Le ersten dere (05~54)- Pais Sei, Le Soni ore Leo dans hie dered dt tei de spc (p43 ar: Sel 978 “ve Seminar on The Purloined Later (ug) Trandate by J. Mchiman. French vu: Stactoa! Sin Paschwmays, Yak ‘The Four Punto! Coro ef Poche Analy (ngf Translate by Boras A Sesion (ny) Translated by A. Sharia: New Vark Nor “Orsinicure san lnmising of OernesPreveuisteoAnySabec ‘Whntsoever(1n70) In Mackey and E, Dont, cs Pe Sr faalst Conroe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Unversity. Pres, tora 1 Stir: Live XX. Ente (4972-79) Pasi Sel, 1975 Laptanche, J and Ponta, JB Toe Langue of Pan ral by D. Niholat-Smith Ne Yok: Nera s9 Lechir. Rompres ares Rel pe de ech del pasa Paris Tceretons, 18. Mereauonty M: Phenomena o Pepin (943). Trate iy C ‘Sith, London: Rowledge and Kogan Pl Viros Mao, Publi Ofer I Hise: Olin, 268 oes hohe Quarter 5 Hegel, Heidegger, Lacan: The Dialectic of Desire Ewan S, CaStY AND J. MEBSIN Woo Prychoanalysi & constantly tempted by reductionism. ‘That temptation stems from the dese to estabsh paychology on 2 ieminey "cent bass and to tain the rigor ofthe natal ences by explining the human in terms of the nonhuman. 1 aleimensiont of human mental life cout be translate! in the fermsof theseiencesof nature, the recogaivably human would be Induced to meshing altel expisined by rea” sciences sch 38 pistes and biology. The danger, of course is that we may Bo Tanger recognize ontselves in the image which results—that the Pevlany human wll somechov he Tost in the reducing gas Fra himself was a eloquent spokesman for such astatexy The opening of his "Projet fora SelentificPsyehology” provides 2 lost statement ofthis reductionist program: ‘The tention ofthis project isto Furnish a psychology that shal bea natural sciences that to represent psychical pro ‘esses as quattatvely determinate states of specfable ma terial piles thus aking those processes pespicwous nd fee from contraction, Tio principal eas ate involved: (4) What distinguishes aesoty [Hom tess be regarded as {Lquanty), subject tothe general ws of motion. (2) The ‘neurones are wo be taken 3 the material parties (2895, p Se ee eee ee eae Ee Sena ee ene eee re nerree ee eeeeeeeeeeeee aa Lae Freud ston abandoned this neurophysislagi progress and de cared forchrighny tht, henceforth, °T shall remain upon pay chological ground” (4gt0-oF, 538) But similar reduction rnotives remain prominentin his works, where the neuron’ ole sea naturalistic explanatory prinipe supplanted bythe eon Caption of instinet or deve (ve) ava form of biological energy The ambitions of the 1895 “Project” sill echo in An Outine Pryehodnabus, peahutnously publahed in 1998, where Freud declares that psychology i “a natural science like anyother” (p 158). Inthe ight of such statement, ts easy to eterpret Freud an psychoanalysis asa form of reductionist prycology that a Tenipts io save everything human into a bialogical ststate of instinctual energie. Jacques Lacan propoteran audacious alternative to this rede tionist interpretation of Freud, He argues that what central to Frets view nol hisofial materiale, but a theory f eyo ism. Lacan would thus substcue linguistics for bialogy s the Scientific foundation and model for pychoaralyis thereby en ‘uringthat the human will be understood in terms the hunsin, Since language sa uniquely mar achievement ts this pro psal—that linguistics replace biology asthe scenic paradigm for paychoanalsie—swhich inks Laron sith the French sie tale schon 7 Sut f Lacan offers san alternative to relictionisti versions bf Freud and of psvehoanalyss i no only becase of his em phasis upon linguistics. iealso hecase hie view fe profonly Influenced by the philosophies of Heidegger ane) Hegel an tren more specifically, by Alexandre Kojeves provocative in terpretation of Hegel’ Phenomnaigs of Spin, which had sich 9 major impact upon French thinkers of Lacan's generation. In ‘led, she nfluencesof Heidegger and Hegel converge in Koieve ‘whose interpretation of Hegel's Phenomenology exhibis an ig hala! exciting blend of Marxist and (leideggerin ingredients. Since many reiders of Lacan are not faa with Heidegger oF Hegel. stl les with Kojeve's version of the Phenomenal, Lic Cat's Heideggerian allasions and frequent references to Hegel only aggravate the dificultyof wrestling with his hermetic prose sive EDWARD 5. CASEY AND J MELSIN; WOODY 7 We will ry tallevate thi difiuly by presenting some ofthe mort salient leas af Hegel and Heidegger that ae important to tinderstanding Lacan, Our purpane set merely to catty Lacan by tracing historia influences, however. We wil also attempt to sll how Lacan's assimilation of Hegel and Heidegger ivites a econsideration of the funding insights of Sigmund Freud in a less reutionsie way, Redacionism wil give way ta dale thy Teast prycheanalysi no longer regarded, or regardable, fsanything ike a natural science Heget Lacan claims to bean orthodox Freudian, championing Freud's authentic meaning against the challenge of French phe= nomenology and the heretical eyo psychology ofthe American Freudian, He attacks both the transparency of consciousness Sarte'sexstential phenomenclogy and he primacy of the ego [American psyehoshalyi theory, nasting that the egos no the ins of truth and realty and antonomons control, but eather a eomeretion of iusions a source of "meconnaissances” or “mi "recognitions" that must he dissolved in the course of pseho: fnalysis inorder to Wberate the authentic sl, the "je" or“ ‘Lacan finds Hegel a natural all in theve quarrels because Hegel too, crit of consciousness and of the ego—not of exo ppchology, of eoutse, but of the ego-centered phitosophies th have dominated! modern Entopean thought. These include Des- cates’ rational cai, the introspective consciousness of English fnpricist, and the autonomots, transcendental exo of Kant Sand Fete, All ate misconceptions insofar asthey ae founded the idea of a purely epistemological ego—or “thinking bein.” For they thereby abtraet ot only from human activ and labor byt also from the soci. cultura, and historical condiions of human mentale, Thus, Kojeve describes the program of The Phenomenology of Spt somewhat dramatically by depicting its Hegel sattempttounderstand bimse-—no' as adiembodied exo lor Cartesian gio, ut ashe sits tablet fens in 1806, writing the Phenomenalgy at hearing. in the distance the cannon slots fon the eve of the Bate of Jen, in whic Napoleon defeated EEE eee B HEGEL, HEIDEGGER, LACANE DIAL PGTIC OF DESIRE Prussia. To understand himself, Hegel mst understand what ie isto philosophize at that historic moment, in 4 world in which Napoleon is about to end the Hely Roman Empire which Char Jemagne had begun 2 thowsand years belor. But, Kojeve asks Whats ito “understand” Napoleon? ... Generally speak ing. to understand Napoleon sto understand isn in relation {o the whole of anterior historical evolution, to understand the whole of universal history. Now almost tone ofthe phi losophersconternporary with Hegel pored thie problem for himsell. And none of them, except Hegel, recived it, For Hegel isthe only ene able to acept, sl to jus, Naps leon'sexistence.... The ethersconsder thexiselves obliged. to contonn Napoiean, thats, condemn the historical ex 'ig: and their philxophicalsystems—by that very fet—are i condemned by that reality uation lo the Reading of eget. pp. $4353 Kojev's italics} “These philosophers condemn Napoleon—and thereby thet selves—because the abstract purty of the epistemolgial ee has ‘cen sranslated into 2 moraizing "beautiful soul” so obxesed with the purty oF Hs ov intentions dt does not a, ut only passes judgment upon those who do—and ofcourse Napoleon i the preeminent historic agent ofthe era. These phiksophersare all words and no deeds. and by their very oppostion ta historical, reality ehey show that thelr words are empty abstractions. They fail o understand Napoleon, asthe) fail to onderstnd thet selves, because they donot recognize that seit ana once tion of themselves and Napoleon are both products ofthe cultare ofthe Enlightennent, and that thei condemnation of history merely the verbal counterpart of what the Revolution. and [Napoleon are actively realizing by the destruction of the ol order and the Holy Roman Empite. To understand Napoleon they would! have to acknowledge this underlying density of self and other, give up their abstract moraliatie pity, ane accept thie one bison. Hegel insists that the individual who Gls recognize his own historicity and sets himself up a «pure, autononas ego, inde EDWARD 5. CASEY AND J. MELVIN WOODY 0 pendent of the customs and culiate of his society and era, i a sMranger to himself Much of the work of The Phenomenol) of Spirtisitended to dssolvesuch an Mhusory conception ofthe self san abstract ego and bring the self-estranged consciousness to {ul ecognitionofiselfasborh erearure and crestor of hiory. It isan enterprise that may well be compared with psychoanalysis and with Lacan's atack upon the ego ae source of mire tio and the alienation ofthe authenticsubjet. The easiest wa 0 exhibit she Hegelian background of Lacan's views o explore the parallel between dese two programs for rescuing theself fronts ‘strangemient oF it "eapivation by the ego” in Lacan's phrase The point of departure for Hegel crique of ego philosophies ishis analysis of consciousness, which culminate in a erigque of the sort of naive scientific thither who secks to contempite an ‘objective world uncontaminated by subjectivity. Thiethinker sil doesnot recognie that the mi! plays an active role it now! ‘edge, thatthe siete object fa reflection ofthe seientfe su. ject. The account ends with a suange passage on “die verkehte ‘Wei an inverted, vireor world in which al entific polrites are reversed—rather like speculations about w uaverse of ants ‘matter in recent physics Hegel artes hist comic engi ‘emphasize that the scien conseisess mus texognize ise in this mirror in order to get beyond mere conscoustes and reach the level of selEconsciounness. But selFonsciousness ‘merges only if its not manure that isthe abject of eansioustss, but rather apother sell Hegel therefore turus to dhe origins oF consciousness in the relation toa alter ego Sal-consciousness is faced by another selfconsciousnes: it has come ou fe This hana ewotold sighiicances frst has lost isl for it finds itself as an oer being secondly in doing soit has superseded the eer for it does not see the ‘other aan essential being but inthe other sce its own sell. Ip. 144; Hogets italic) This image of the emergence of selconsciousnes from the recognition ofthe ef ina mirror, or another selec readers of Lacan. The poit of departute for Lacan critique of eo psychology is his account of “the mirror stage”—the stage when the infant sil uncoordinated and relatively powers, fist achieves consciousness of ielf by recognizing Hell nan ‘object outside ise, image in a mirror. Aecording to Lacan, this specular, mirvor image ofthe self x “the mats and first ‘outline of what iso become theego," an since it showsthe body in reversed form, it presges the ego's role as 4 souree of mis recognition and ise, Whats noe tobe found inthe looking glass, according to both Hegel and Lacan is any awareness of self as subjective agency ‘Thetwoagreethat what the mirror oes not ellet isthe sje ie, which isthe motive source of al human activity athe simples, most priive form of self-awareness. Kojeve explains that ‘heman who attentively comtomplesa thing, who wantstosee itasiciswihout changing anything “absorbed? soto speak by thscontempation™that iby ths thing, He forgets him self. [But] whea he experiences a desite, when hei hun sy, for example, and wants to eat «he neces he ‘comics aware of kins Desi always reveled! asin desire Ip. 37: Kojve's talc) In contrast to the knowledge that Leeps man in a passive ‘quietde, Desire disquiets him and moves him to ction. [Peal Tins far, Lacan could concur om purely Freudian grounds— and might defend his orthodony with references to Freud’ is ‘ussons of Eros and Thanatos andthe econoatics ofthe libido, But what Lacan infact does ta take over Hegel analysis of desire as interpreted and elaborated by Kove: Hegelsanalyss focuses upon what distinguishes Iaman desire fous merely ial, biological drives IF Lacans version of Freudian theory and pre tice offers. alternative to reductionism, iiss much the result ‘ofthis adoption of Hegel's analysis of desire ast of the lngui. edsnceo renter sr EDWARD 5. CASEY AND J. MELVIN; WOODY Bs Lictheory ofthe unconscious, Indeed, she tinguiicand Hegelian themes may be regarded sx necessary compleniens of one an ther. Paal Roc objects to Lacans interpretation of Feud bec it “limites energy concep in favor of linguistics”. 367-1. 97)-By insiting upon alingunic or semiatithory a he Unconscious, Roca argues Lacan and his lowers are ke to ‘neglect the energet bisogicaldimension of Freu'stheory the economies” of the ibid. Bi, Rcocur atts just his tae ral energeticingedien thts required toeaplain the diference Between ordinary language an the symboham ofthe none sions: Riceur regards ths ste eri anu forthe pi ‘ophical interpretation of Freud For a philosophical ertgue, the essential point concerns what ell the place ofthat energy discourse, Its ple, i seems (© me, es at the intersetion of desire and len sage... The intersection ofthe ‘natural and the igi) Ings the point at which the instinct drives are repre sented by affects and ideas: consequently the coordination ‘ol theeconomic anguage and the intentional language isthe main question ofthis epistemology snd one that cannot be voided by reducing ether language tothe other [p.305) But, Rieneur admits, che diffcuy here centers “the ides of an ‘nergy that is Wanstormed into meaning.” And he concedes that in order to resolve tis dilficuly, "it may be thatthe entre matter muste edone, perhaps withthe help of energy schemata ‘quite diferent from Freud (p.395), Hisar just this point, “the intersection ofthe natural and the ‘signifying’ that Lacan's adoption of Hegel account of human desire plays such a decisive role, The linguistic imerpretation of the unconscious sems wo call fora complementary redefinition of desire es natralistic terms than those afforded by Freud’ ‘energy discourse.” Hegel’ discussion of desire in The Phe romeo of Spr supplies tis complement by Tacsing upon how human desire transcends biological needs and organic drives. And f Ricoeur is correct in claiming that psychoanalysis ‘ssentllya"hermeneutis of dese,” then the adoption ofthe & HEGEL, HEIDEGGER, LACANS DIALECTIC OF URSIRE Hegetin theory of desire is bound to have important implica ‘ions for both the theory and the practice ofthe facrpreta nt the “language” of the unconscious, Kojéves cliberston of Hegel analysis of desire might almost have been desoned tldress this enigma of how "energy i transformed in mea ing" in away that pertains directly to the problem of interprcce ‘don sit appears within te interpersonal sting of ana, | his commentary upon Hegel dacusson af esi, Kove exphins that the very being of man implies and prenuppore ¢ biological reat, an anima life andl animal denne Bon animal Desire isthe necessary condition of Sel-Conscious ress itis not the sufficient condition. 4] The animal attains only Selbst-gfh, Sentiment of sly but ‘nt Selist-drwnstien, SelECoiouinythat is, it canner ‘peak of isl tcarmotsay "I." «For SellCContclousnen ey exit. there mus be transcendence of selfwithreapentig Self as given. And hiss posible acconling to Hegel ory desire is directed not woward + ison being, but onan onbeing «hats toward anciter Desire inches emptiness another I... Desires human-on, morse by, “humanizing, “antheopogenetie™ only provided thew B dircted toward another Der and an her Deir. Ip 30-40; Kojeve' alis) Thus, inthe relationship hetweon « man and a woman, for txample, Desir is human ony ithe une devine, hot the bey, but the Desire ofthe other if he wants "Wo posse os ‘to assimilate” the Desire takenas Desve—that store ifhe rants tobe “deste” or “loved,” on rather, “eeopnieed” Fis human value, in his reality ae fuman iial[p Lacan takes up this analysis and elaborates it int 9 the-way distinction between desire) merely natural oF biologie noch hich is mute; and demand, whi iy that peculialy ema ‘mand for love that transcends all mere objects of ettacton sek {tansmutes them into proofs of love. Lacan reserves the wel ‘desire o refer to that wanscendent, unconuiional ngredinst jin the demand for love, the peculiarly human emptiness that «annotbe sisted by any objector proof ollove As Lic putt, or both partners in the relation, both thesulject al the her itisnot enough tohesubjecisof need, orabjetsot ove. They snus stand for the cause of desire” (Berit, p. 8) So, Lach exphuins, “if the desire of the mother ithe phalts, the child Wishes tor the phallus in order to satay tat desir (p28), And elrewhere be elaborate "he chi in his relation to dhe mother relation constitute in analysis not by his vital dependence on he but hy Ise Hlependence on her love, dat so sayy the desire for her desire, identities himel withthe imaginary object thie dlsire in so far as the moter herself symbolizes iin the pals: vs, p. 198) Lacan's understanding of the significance of dhe phalusiserocal here. ‘The phallus not the physical argan the penis or elton but the symbolic object whose unveiling culainated the ance Iysteies Lacan insists upon thi special symbole satin? “The Phallussthe prisleged signifier ofthat mark in whieh the role oF the logos is joined with the advent of deste (nays, p87) The [halls chs sands a Use “intersection of deste sad languages ‘which Ricoeur deseribes as the philowphicaly crea temo ‘of psychoanalytic theory. For Lacan, itmarks the wanseendence Of human sire beyond organic ced-a transcendence that ‘ing t language. tals stands For juin that unit fulfilment o perfection of being which ithe im as hun tesire that cannot be sasied by any abject because “be bln of language is the non-being of objets (p26). tm effec the pal Juss the symbol ofthat moversent whereby man surpansee the merely vital or biological ward filmen that is forever wane ‘sland forever wanting in humnen exinence Hegel oo, had insisted chat tie distinctively human desir wo ‘be desire ams heyond every determinate need ad seems xen to dety any form of satisfaction. Ia desire to he desired sea ester; na simply to satisfy 4 need, nor as an abject of le we ‘Lacan sys, butasa human subject who transcends everyabjeccon Be MECEL, HEIDECCER, LACAN? DIALECTIC OF DESIRE Instinct or merely val need. But wn individual ean only prone to {he cother that hes sucha transcending subject by risking hse in confit with another subject, Kojéve explains For man tobe raly human, fr him tobe essensially and really diferent from an animal his human Desire must eter ally win out over his animal Desire. Allthe Desires of an animal are in the inl analysis «funtion ofits desive to preserveitslife, Human Dest, therefore, must winout over desire for preservation «pp. 6-7. In other words, ‘Man will sk his biological fe to sist his nnbelgial de sire. And Hegel sys that the being thats incapable of pt ting is life in danger in order to stain endl that are ho immediately tale, the being that eannot risk sie ins {ight for Recagnitin, na fight for pre pratige— isnt a cry Jaman being [415 his ais} Buconecannot extract recogiton froma corpse! A struggle to she death can only end insite srw to have any postive resi. oneof the wo adversaries must surrender, abe tate his own desire in order to sve his life and become a save ‘ho labors to stay the cei ofthe other the mater But the ‘wer cannot be fly sted by the recognition ofamere save ‘hotessciiced his man autonomy tse his ile. Secon ‘sciousness isachieved oniythrongh consiousessofanoersel malts ego,and the master cannot encounter Falls human see the lave Tt only the sae bo encounters the master at Iisa ego.afullyautonomous human beng. Bet thiscthereas sus be overcome the self must recognize self in wether The ‘aster mst acknowledge his dependence upon the slave, snd the ave must recoeize hit own mastery. Infact itis he save who, by means ot his labor, may eventually achieve seston and cognition. Theslave ters and reshapes the world through his work and thereby reales and embers his own subjecice agency inthe world. He ci therefore rags hime tn that ‘orld’ By Loring to say the desire ofthe ether, then, the live wrk trough is natural fear of death and realizes hs ree dom by mastering the natural word, thereby achieving sell ‘cognition. EDWARD S. CASEY AND J. MELVIN WoOBY 85 Lacan applies this analysis ofthe struggle for recognition and the master-slave telaton (the dexelopment ofthe el and to ‘the psyehoanalytie process. The child desires tobe desired-—de- sires, smb, forthe phalas which the mother desires. But the mut repress this desire under the prohibition ofthe paternal ‘Now or a Lacan puts it "in the Name of the Father.” which signifies the socialization ofthe child, the acquisition of language, law, and culture whereby the individual becomes human This subordination of desire wo law a lnguage ithe locas of pmsl repression, The threat of castration is simply the ape synbol for {his abuegation ofthe desire wo be desired, symbolized by the desire to be the phallus. Lacan also fads here the source ofthe ‘necessity whic led Freud co link the appearance ofthe sigoicr ff the Father, as author of the Law, with death, even to the murder ofthe Father” (cvs, p. 199) "Thus, 2cconding to Lacan, there isa “fe andl death struggle the origin of individual aeculeuration much ike that which Hegel saw as the precondition ofall human bistory In both eases, tht struggle lenves the desire for recognition unsatisfied, and Subsequent development—whether of the career of the ind vidual or the history ofthe species—is plagued by tensions that betray the unresolved cone whence # springs. Lacan writes The concrete field of individual preservation .-. is struc: tured in thin dilectic of master and slave, in which we ean ‘recognize the symbolicemergence of the imaginary strgale {othe death in which we earlier defined the eset stu tre ofthe ego. [Ee p41 Lacan sees this sime dislectic in paychoanalstc transference ‘He frequently characterizes the analytic relationship in jus these Hegelian terms, describing it asa struggle for recogaition or ss. master sae relation in which the analysand sasumes the role of the slave, who agrees initially to undertake the “work” of anass inorder to satisfy the analyst mater Ifthe process isto be fie Ful, however the aualyst must evenualy eschew the role of mas ter andl help the analysand toward self-recogntion through the labor of free asiodiation, thereby Freeing am authentic °T” from ‘aptivation by the ego ee, el 86 HEGEL, HEIDEGGER, LACAN: DIALEEHG OF DESIRE OF course al of this mus been metaphorical «ase, nothing shou be taken oo eral temark that Hegel's account esrb amyl her hana real genes” (ous, 308). I probably be to see Hegels ral of the strug for recognition andthe masters i alectcasbis submit forthe Eslghnenments myth ofthe origin Of human evan in soc contracrbetnen atonomae, tional seinterested eyes. Kojeve treats it dle 8 4 mca for he wolf ma ry. nih he of thea erresponds tthe hori process of Bldg ea ture-ullding, were man bh creates an leas Hise “The historical proces, the historical becoming ofthe umnan being, i the produet of the working Slve and aot of the warlike Master... Thanks 1 his work, fe can become ‘ther; and thanks to his work, the Word an becanne ether And thisis what actualy took place as universal history and, finally, the French Revolution and Napoleon show [pp. And that brings us back tothe beginning, co Hegel's effort wo tunderstand himself as he writes, heating the sounds of Napor leon’ cannon at Jena, and to hisatempeto help the reader aver ‘ome his selfestrangement by appropriating his own hsorcty recognising himself as both ereture snd creator of history. I again, an undertaking which invites comparison wih psycho analysis, especially a Lacan describes: "Analyse can have fo its {goal only the advent ofa true speech and the Subjet af his history in bis relation toa fut Yet forallthe fertile parallels Lacan ciscovers between paycho- analyssand the program of Hegel's Phenomena the wo ener prises are notthesame,andhe i wellsware of how they differ. Hegel's ease, the tsk of reconciliation with his own historia! realty requires an understanding of the whe of wort history fat eastof how the history ofthe West hs led o the contre tion between the German intellectual andthe Nopoleonicernies Only the philosophical comprehension ofthe history that culm nates in Napoleen wl el such self understanding and recon EDWARD 5, CASEY AWD J MERLIN WOODY & ciation, Sell-knowledge not oe attained through the ple “Tansparene ofthe Cartesian egioor Kantstramscendental uni ty of appercepon, for man's ots enduring subuance, knows te through the contemplation of some timeless exental at (chutes Man ea fee agen a he cnt Know se eu Teac since he constiesfunwel through ating pon and altering his word. Man'seserceidefinedby his history by what Hen done tht nea sha he ca ony ce 0 he Himselé by ainating or tering himself by balding Mise a told and then recoizng hisnel tn hot word fear ad Iinor,undestod sr he prac of his human deeds Thur the individual who Fal recogives thi and under- scan tat tory human creston, i his no longer ine cate of hikory. Tat india, of cours Heys tise by fully understanding Ms on hse, Hege cats touranicent not scening to areal of Poni Idea nor by eseaping nto a tnees mya unity. but pray by nsting thats freedom makes hi ral tesporl and histori nd yet to udertand this htory it transcend tin kl ‘ge thats absote beanset grasps the truth ofall the antec Entformsof conscowsnes andere, and knows ico be the product of thowe forms. I thereby comprehend the whole of History within tell So, Hegel concen, Spirit necesarily appears in Time, and ic appears in Time Justo long asic has not grasped its pare Nobon, i, has no nnlled Time.» Tine. therefore, appears asthe destiny dnd! necessity of Spirit that snot yet complete within isl, thenecessiy to enrich the share which e-consciousness bas Inconsciousnes. [Phenomenol 487] Hegelian phenomenology and Lacanian psychoanalysis part ‘ompanyhere, Fr Lacan would Forswear sch claim to absolute knowledge, emphasing thatthe analyst must abjure any com parableasertion of omnlscence. And hiss surely not because of Any modesty on Lacan’ part, but because of his conviction that theres no final insight or definitive version of wath o be hd. IF Lacan nevertheless acknowledges the radical histoicky and tem- | as MEGHL, HEIDEGGER, LACAN! matEeTTC OF Desi Poralty of human existence by insisting upon the roles of la age la, and culture inthe constinution ofthe individual sub sects he must avail himself ofa diferent conception of hunts temporal, historicity and eulure than Hegel He four such an alternative conception ready to hand in the pilosophy of Martin Heidegger. Heidegger For Lacan the human subjet i something more than ego and connec his view of he subject wih Deserts ian ea seek certainty inthe mid of dou: “The subjet "aus Lacan lays "looking for his certainty” ou Fenda Conc of Pocho-analas, p. 129) Hela subj who "pond kaon (ents dss: posted athe know) bt whos sot iknow bettuse ofthe misundestandings and mysticaons hich or she isembre in thetmaginary reiterate vith hednfantseapavaton by hs reflontn he mtvor Bute {ust here that the paral with Descartes collapses. For the Carte, ‘an sujet achieves certain by recogiing ts tng through self-reflection alan be defined wih metaph sil precsonse {re copter unde thinking subutance—-wheteas te us {tof fand in poychounail hat “ner ts and nay Indeterminate: sujet always ad TadingTorl ‘elcalvson (Four Conepap a6; Bot pp. aon ya) There are arious sources of such spltng othe see They ince the intrinsie fncommensuralies Between te repre ing andthe repressed elements of the sell the sigier se ‘ified, linguoge and speech, sel a her. ego and Ober "his spi and dive condition ofthe subjee wl Lica sp sis by the symbol, means that the immediate Fete tainty ofthe Cartesian cot isan son, amis tecognion Ad 2 his cleavage inthe ses rae, cannot be ten ot Yeconcled through the medd selsccogiion of Hegelian solute knowledge ™ i Does this mean some ave suspected, hat dhe Lacan EDWARD S. CASEY AND J. ELVIN WOOT 89 subject cam be nether known nor defined? In fact, there ave at leas hree ways wo define this subject. all of which ate explicitly phivsophical and each of which contributes to an understinding of ts racivally divided character “Thesubjet for Lacan isaspeaking subjec—or rather asoon subject ereated by the play of the signifier. Instead of being sourcecf causal elficaey (ast isin nearly all substan! person alist views), the subject isto be regarded as an effet—indeed. the primary effect—of speaking. And itis precisely at this junctore that the unconscious enters the sect (One shoul! seein the unconscious the effects of speech the subject insofar as thee elfects ae so radically primary that they are properly what determine he status ofthe sa jectassubjex---- The unconsciousis the sum ofthe effete ‘of speech on a subject the levels which the subject eon stieutes himself out ofthe effects ofthe sighiie, [Fur Con ct, pe 126) For all of the obvious origins of such statement in Saussure, JJakobson, and Lévi-Strauss, cach of whom offers evidence ofthe massive “effets ofthe signifier," i ialso rote in the pilose phy of Heidegger, who lias insted onthe primacy of language ‘ver the speaking subject in his extremely condensed Formula, “language speaks" (ie Space src), At bea, hutan Deings cat serve only 1 guard and preserve he ruth thus spoken, At worst and more typically, they may abandon authentic meaning a subjectivity t a life dominated bythe cliche and by everyday {gossp. David Riesman once epitomized the heteronomy of sch lite by deseribing tas “otherirected.” Heidegger expreses the same theme by saying that this inauthentic, everyday subject is ‘not mpl, but the impersonal “one” (as Man he equivalent of the French on) Lacan articulates this theme by speaking of the dominance of the Othe. Inthe ast section of his 1957 ery "The Agency ofthe Latter in the Unconscious” etied "The Lever, Being andthe ” HEGEL, HEIDEGOER, LACAN: DIALECTIC OF past Other."he speaks of “the radical heteronomy that Freediscon ery (of the unconscious] shows gaping within man" and of she ‘other to wir Fam more atached that to ysl en, p. 172), ‘This “Other,” which Lacan distinguishes from any patietar ther: by capitalization ("le graud Autre) snot distinguishable from the signifying chain of speci in which it manifests toll i Psychoanalysis; indeed, is “the locus ofthe signifier (p30), Hence Lacan’s celebrated dicun, “The unconscious ithe de «course of the Other” (p. 172). The unconscious i serctued 9 Fanguage because and othe exact exten hats tet language. Or, to put it another way: language provides the “seructure and lit” (p. 56) of the field in whic the subject ‘omes-trbe, and this means above all the psychoansts subpen, ‘But what i this subject, afterall this being whois defined by language and who becomes Other to himset by being la, guage? “What constitutes me as subject im question emake Lacan eri, p. 80), echoing Heidegger's description of Deseivas ‘questioning being in the introduction to Being aed Tine Ouece, ‘Sning—whether af oneself of other beings oF of Belay isl isitsetf a fundamental form of spliting within the subjecs char inexorably introduces a division between the questioner and she ‘questioned the known and the unknown, Laean hereforeapee OF the subject as “ex-centsie” se alienated from hinuell The Philosophical origins ofthis conception ofthe subjet aga des Five from Heidegger sanalyisof jectivity in ring and fe this work of 1927 Feleggerdesignsteshuman exten as "Da sein”: erally, being-there. To bethere i to exit, to sand-ook inone'sbeingrin-the-world, Such existing isa way in whl ioe The ‘essence of this entity [Dain] isin its "tobe? (Zan bout whe, implying possibilty.» The asener of Dsl Inds exsence. Tn each ease Dasein iis possi. [Being ‘and Tine, pp. 67-68; Heidegger's tales] Dascin exists, then, by landing ost —out from the world re- ‘garded a acolection of indifferent, prevent-e hand parieans and ou from itself asa centered substrate, Asthusex-entre and eee EDWARD 5. CASEY AND J MELVIN WOODY on ‘ecstatic, Dasein stands out as being something other tha it rmundaneity or egocentric would prescribe ot pret and it does so in two basie ways (1) Datciv exists bythe projection of ‘item sigufcant ponies through is understanding ofthe ‘world and itself: an understanding Unt is esentaly prorjective by virtue of ts forestructare, through whic iti inelactbly drain intothe hermeneutical eee of knowing projectivly what itcomesto know in detail in cognitive (ad ee forms) of "yan (a) Dau also stands ot From itself by is neeenent sith thes in the “with-world” of human soiaity, especially i the ‘crucial activity of “leaping abel” in relation to others rather than leapingin” for themby diel disburdening them ofthe anxiety oF careswhere “leaping ahead” hs remarkable al Finite with psyehoanaltictechnigues of abstinence, silence empathic understanding. Sach leaping ahead contrasts wih the dleadiened and deadening pasvityof das Men underswod asthe “they-sel” which dictates conformity and subs, Basic toall hese ex-centiites andl making ther posible isthe temporality ofthe self. Ifthe human subject could ox distance itself from isef in time, it would live at unsplintered life of immediacy, of continuous bodily need and its gratification (whether actual or hallucnated). For he advent of demand and desire, there must bea power of projecting sxtifactonsin die — whether through memory or through anticipation of wished for object. Either way, whether I project towerd a pastora Faure horizon, temporal exhibisitsct in te radically differentiating role: av allowing me to difer from my present sll, tobe other than myself, tobe el alen in time. Heidegger therefore defines temporality as “the primordial ‘otsideolatsel? inn for tse" (Bemg/and Tine, p. 372). 89 Aesignation, he means to emphasize thatthe hasan experience of time cannot be confined to @ succession of nows arranged primi on some imesline. The series of now: points to which we sare soften tempted to reduce temporal experince results rom ‘quantifying and shrinking a temporality that in and by tse profoundly nonlinear. Sach temporality, which belongs to Dasin I TST icidr o HEGEL, HEIDECEER, LACAN! DIALECTIC OF DESIRE precisely as existent or standing outside is own selencosed go. is termed “eestatico-hortonal” by Heidegger, Each ofthe three main forms of temporaity—pas, present and futsre—can be seen asan open horizon which we setvely project out of ur cexitenial concerns al prevecupatons. Each temporal horion is ouside she center or source ofthe projecting. wheres 38 ha ingalrealy-been, going-tbe, of making-present. As seh, each is possible made of temporalzation, of being-n-time estat. ically. Butof the dhree modes, the future as priority: "The pri tuaty phenomenon of primordial and authentic temporality the future" (p. 378). Why so? The reason i that in relation tothe fiture, Buen ouside self, apart from sellin the most rade «alway its baie “e-be" characer an accomplished inthe projec tion of possibile, i realized most completely i relation tothe Future, which is indeterminately open and the locus of one's bbeing-towaredeath. Is in and dhrough such temporalation of itsexistence that Dawn is self centrifugal alienated from ise in the literal sense of being in time, other than sel, This not to be regreted, Heidegger thinks: ince itis the way in which we live out our human existence most suthentcly, Inauthentcty centers only when the dissporadic,spread-out and openet/-up sense ofterporality just deserbediscloedl downandcogfiaed to mere sequence of noweto. sheer “withia-ime-ness" ( noceitiged)y in contrast to the disjunctive, cstatce-horizos femporality of authentic Dasein ‘What do such apparently arcane descriptions of hunnsn ten poralty haveto de with paychoanalysis? Lacan linls that Heide {gers analysis applies dircaly wo the practice of psychoanalysis Faecause "time plays its ole in analytic technique in several ways” (Gert, p. 95} The most obvious temporal parumctesof tne aa Iyte process are its duration asa whale and the length ofeach Total dation. The length of analysis cannot be determined in advance. For the subject in treatment, the tal ime i il take "can only be anticipated.» a indefinite” ev, p. gg) Why is this? Lacan's iaumediate response is thatthe ts er com drendre—sthe ime requited for understanding an’ bespeaking EDWARD S, CASEY AND J. MELVIN WOOD os oneself as subjectvty—is strictly unpredictable. Lacan's phrase sntcipated as indefinite” evokes the very terms Hewleger ed to describe the decsive notion of authentic temporality inva ing, beingtomard-death (Srin-sum-Tade), Although death is the ending of life, Heidegger explains it sneither a goal be sought ho terminal point to be merely ated: tis the kind of thing wseare always tending ‘oward, yet may be either kept concealed from us or authentically anticipated (se Being and Tine, p- 303) Bucsince my death cannot he determined pressely inane, sn is exact character or poston inthe future, something Lean ‘only anticipae in an openrended way, a “indefinite, Ifthe analytic experience is indeed analogos to being toward deat, then it woul bea rien technical error ry 0 Fis fend in advance. Freudattempted todo thisin the case ofthe Wolf Man sind came o regret, Here the end was eld tas definite, as something tobe awaited and expected. This made the pot of {ermination too determinate and produced what Lacan ella patializing projecion” (crs, pp. 5-90), because not nonixed stan isan indispensable feature of Dasen'stemporalty, Since hesubject of psychoanalysis isa genuinely temporal being, the analyte process ‘ust reflec this fat by becoming tell intrinsically indefiaie in Aluration, I is this ems, indeed, that psychoanalysis can be Said 0 be “inerminable” in Freuds term, which Lacan re ‘sealing translates into French a indie" To understand py oars a terminable in 4 definite, end-poiting way i810 transform is diffuse temporality into an alienated spat, and thus to foster “the vertigo ofthe domination of space” (p. 23) Lingth of esion, One ofthe most conteoversal features of La can’ own practice has been bit alteration of the length af the psychoanalytic session. ‘The duration of this session is fixed by Inadsion at filty minutes Lacan finds the sret and ungues ingadlherence to thistime pan suspiciously abessional? and has tfandyernpes thing the pst "wx ane ab ch Iter tha been cane experienc ‘Sain hot senn at amgeinmy epee nero, Prtool hick bet hr Lace persed ih og ssn tl = ner, HEIDEGGER, LACAN: DIALECTIC OF DESIRE advocated the seemingly arbitrary practice of terminating the session atthe discretion of the analy, reportedly after eal as Several minutes, Wemake no attempe to atack or defend this practice but wish ‘only to point io es resin Heidegger's contrast betwee unt time and clack time Although certainly useful for many: par Poses clock time does not begin to relletndeuatly the ten Poralty of Dasen, much lest of the unconscious According to Heidegger, the time of cocks ithe result of leveling dot ‘morta! temporality to measurable (and essing) public ee that impersonal nd impart Lacia remarks that the alent ‘of clock time “is relatively recent, since it goes bach preci t Huyghens' clock—in other words, to 1639 and the maase of ‘modern man does not exactly indicate thar this precio fs on isa hiberating factor for bm’ (Les, p98) ‘Lacan warns that strict observation ofthe fy-minute rae may prove more oppressive than liberating. One is oppresed by the fateful inevitability with which one meatured moment suceceds ‘nother uni te se interval ie marked off on some indifferent ‘lock face Indifference, indeed, s the heart ofthe mater he indifference with which the cutting up of the ‘timing imerrupts the moments of haste within the subjeet ea be fatal wo dheconelusion tscards whichis discourse wan big precipitated, or even fiva misunderstanding or misreading ‘nit not furnish the pretext fora retaliate [p 9) In order to make the inequacy andl oppresie indifference ofthe standard session olrable, patient may coude with ck time itself: submit oi, labor int conseientiouly, yet termporize allthe while. Thislabor, observed mot dramatically in observes is “forced labor” wlnse motive Hes inthe awaited death af the analyst qua master (Zen, p 8) But any such atte once death, whether it be one's own arate ic manifest int

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