Subjectivity and Otherness by Lorenzo Chiesa

Subjectivity and Otherness by Lorenzo Chiesa

The evolution of the concept of subjectivity in the works of Jacques Lacan.

Countering the call by some pro-Lacanians for an end to the exegesis of Lacan's work--and the dismissal by anti-Lacanians of Lacan as impossibly impenetrable--Subjectivity and Otherness argues for Lacan as a paradoxically systematic thinker, and for the necessity of a close analysis of his texts. Lorenzo Chiesa examines, from a philosophical perspective, the evolution of the concept of subjectivity in Lacan's work, carrying out a detailed reading of the Lacanian subject in its necessary relation to otherness according to Lacan's orders of the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real. Chiesa emphasizes the continuity underlying apparently incompatible phases of Lacan's examination of the subject, describing Lacan's theory as a consistent philosophical system--but one that is constantly revised and therefore problematic. Chiesa analyzes each old theory of the subject within the framework of a new elaboration and reassesses its fundamental tenets from the perspective of a general psychoanalytic discourse that becomes increasingly complex. From the 1960s on, writes Chiesa, the Lacanian subject amounts to an irreducible lack that must be actively confronted and assumed; this subjectivized lack, Chiesa argues further, offers an escape from the contemporary impasse between the death of the subject alleged by postmodernism and a return to a traditional substantialist notion of the subject. An original treatment of psychoanalytic issues, Subjectivity and Otherness fills a significant gap in the existing literature on Lacan, taking seriously the need for a philosophical investigation of Lacanian concepts.

Chiesa, Lorenzo: - Lorenzo Chiesa is Director of the Genoa School of Humanities and the author of Subjectivity and Otherness: A Philosophical Reading of Lacan and The Not-Two: Logic and God in Lacan, both published by the MIT Press.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780262532945
ISBN 10	0262532948
Title	Subjectivity and Otherness
Author	Lorenzo Chiesa
Series	Short Circuits
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	MIT Press Ltd
Year published	2007-09-28
Number of pages	248
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.