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Lacan Today: Psychoanalysis, Science, Religion offers a lucid overview of the French psychoanalyst`s work. In five sections--"The Structure of the Subject," "Epistemology," "Four Discourses," "There is No Sexual Rapport," and "God is Real,"--the book maps out Lacan`s thought for the lay reader with unmatched clarity. It does this by building from Lacan`s graph and formulas, which are often misunderstood. This formalization acts as a pedagogical tool of wonderful economy, offering a broad overview without neglecting the essential details. The chapters are summarized by a general graph that visually demonstrates Lacan`s rigor and coherence.
The book examines often-neglected aspects of Lacan`s work, like problems in the history of science, epistemology, and religion, in order to show Lacan`s relevance to today`s world. It makes the case for Lacan as one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century, whose reach extends beyond the discipline of psychoanalysis. Indeed, Lacan`s thought should lead readers into a reexamination of philosophy, literature, art, politics, economy, and desire.
In his introduction, Alexandre Leupin writes: "If the unconscious exists, then Lacan is the only twentieth-century thinker who has drawn the consequences of Freud`s discovery to their ultimate limits. I propose here what some will take as bombastic hyperbole: Lacan`s radical reevaluation of human thinking is comparable to Einstein`s."
Though Lacan`s thought is making tremendous inroads in countries of Latin culture, it has been slowly fading from public awareness in the English-speaking world. Often Lacan has been nothing more than a pawn in the bundling of contradictory doctrines labeled as "French thought"; or he has been reduced to a means of exchange between psychoanalysts or specialists in the humanities. Leupin`s contention is that what Lacan said or wrote is of interest to the general public and that his consignment to oblivion is reversible. This book demonstrates that Lacan`s thinking has vast implications, not only for college professors or practicing psychoanalysts, but also for scientists, epistemologists, and every man and woman.ISBN - 9781892746900
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Pages : 192
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