The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis

Fülszöveg

The Four Fundamental Concepts
of Psyc> n "^sis
JACQT JS T AN
Dr. Lacan's writings, and especially the seminars for which he has
become famous, have provoked intense controversies in French analytic
circles, requiring as they do a radical reappraisal of the legacy be-
queathed by Freud. This volume is based on a year's seminar, which is of
particular importance because he was addressing a larger, less spe-
cialized audience than ever before, among whom he could not assume
familiarity with his work. For his listeners then, and for his readers now,
he wanted "to introduce a certain coherence into the major concepts on
which psycho-analysis is based," namely, the unconscious, repetition,
the transference, and the drive.
In redefining these four concepts he explores the question that, as he
puts it, moves from "Is psycho-analysis a science?" to "What is a
science that includes psycho-analysis?" Dr. Lacan argues in particular
that there is a structural affinity between... Tovább

Fülszöveg

The Four Fundamental Concepts
of Psyc> n "^sis
JACQT JS T AN
Dr. Lacan's writings, and especially the seminars for which he has
become famous, have provoked intense controversies in French analytic
circles, requiring as they do a radical reappraisal of the legacy be-
queathed by Freud. This volume is based on a year's seminar, which is of
particular importance because he was addressing a larger, less spe-
cialized audience than ever before, among whom he could not assume
familiarity with his work. For his listeners then, and for his readers now,
he wanted "to introduce a certain coherence into the major concepts on
which psycho-analysis is based," namely, the unconscious, repetition,
the transference, and the drive.
In redefining these four concepts he explores the question that, as he
puts it, moves from "Is psycho-analysis a science?" to "What is a
science that includes psycho-analysis?" Dr. Lacan argues in particular
that there is a structural affinity between psycho-analysis, construed as
the science of the unconscious, and language—the science of linguistics
being one of the significant discoveries of our time. He also discusses the
relation of psycho-analysis to religion, and reveals his particular stance
on a wide range of topics, such as sexuality and death, love and the
libido, alienation, interpretation, repression, and desire.
This book constitutes the essence of Dr. Lacan's sensibility. There is
no clearer statement of the ideas and issues which have aroused such
passionate reactions in France, and which can now gain the hearing they
deserve in the English-speaking world. Vissza