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Psychoanalytic theory in the context of a transformative politics Glynos, Leonidas Jason
Abstract
In contemplating social change in the context of policy development and legal decision-making we are necessarily led to consider what the limits are to such change. And it is not surprising to find this issue gaining widespread currency in contemporary legal and political debates, especially when viewed against the background of the growing number of new social movements: feminism, critical race, anti-poverty, environmentalism, and so on. Our thesis suggests that a psychoanalytic approach can successfully contribute to this critical discussion. In a first approach, our thesis develops some basic psychoanalytic categories, such as ‘fantasy’ and ‘identification,’ to show how Lacan’s view of the subject as a lack yields some surprisingly fruitful insights. What we have in mind here is his view that the subject is not a fully-formed individual with a clear and undisputed will. Rather, I.acan suggests that it is the very absence of a concrete will which defmes the human subject. These insights are further developed in relation to the standard theoretical categories of ‘power relations’ and ‘structural constraint’. We thus demonstrate, for example, how psychoanalytic ideas can further the debates over ideological critique and ‘false-consciousness’. Now, in making our analysis relevant to contemporary political and legal scholarship, we have applied our theoretical framework to the discussion of the rights discourse. We find that many of the impasses centering on the public-private issue; on the formal versus substantive opposition; on the question of whether rights reproduce the capitalist mode of production; can be usefully portrayed in terms of the assumptions that underlie legal positivism and legal postmodernism; and we show how Lacan can provide us with a much-needed alternative account of the rights phenomenon. In this new formulation, rights users are tied directly to the subject-as-lack. And, contrary to a reactionary interpretation of this new formulation which might point to an apparent pessimism and apathy, we find that our narrative opens up the way to a highly productive and passionate ethics. We immediately see the relevance of such contemplations to political and legal strategists. We argue that Justice is impossible in the strictest sense of the term, and that our proposed ethics provides us with a means to cope with this knowledge. We suggest adopting a paradoxical stance in which Justice is conceivable, and in this sense possible, on the basis of a constitutive impossibility. Our thesis demonstrates how the work of Slavoj Zizek, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Joan Copjec, and Renata Saleci, provide us with a panoply of remarkably sophisticated (Lacanian) theoretical tools for the purposes of presenting this paradoxical relationship.
Item Metadata
Title |
Psychoanalytic theory in the context of a transformative politics
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
1994
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Description |
In contemplating social change in the context of policy development and legal
decision-making we are necessarily led to consider what the limits are to such change.
And it is not surprising to find this issue gaining widespread currency in contemporary
legal and political debates, especially when viewed against the background of the
growing number of new social movements: feminism, critical race, anti-poverty,
environmentalism, and so on. Our thesis suggests that a psychoanalytic approach can
successfully contribute to this critical discussion.
In a first approach, our thesis develops some basic psychoanalytic categories, such
as ‘fantasy’ and ‘identification,’ to show how Lacan’s view of the subject as a lack yields
some surprisingly fruitful insights. What we have in mind here is his view that the
subject is not a fully-formed individual with a clear and undisputed will. Rather, I.acan
suggests that it is the very absence of a concrete will which defmes the human subject.
These insights are further developed in relation to the standard theoretical categories of
‘power relations’ and ‘structural constraint’. We thus demonstrate, for example, how
psychoanalytic ideas can further the debates over ideological critique and ‘false-consciousness’.
Now, in making our analysis relevant to contemporary political and legal
scholarship, we have applied our theoretical framework to the discussion of the rights
discourse. We find that many of the impasses centering on the public-private issue; on
the formal versus substantive opposition; on the question of whether rights reproduce the capitalist mode of production; can be usefully portrayed in terms of the assumptions that
underlie legal positivism and legal postmodernism; and we show how Lacan can provide
us with a much-needed alternative account of the rights phenomenon. In this new
formulation, rights users are tied directly to the subject-as-lack. And, contrary to a
reactionary interpretation of this new formulation which might point to an apparent
pessimism and apathy, we find that our narrative opens up the way to a highly productive
and passionate ethics.
We immediately see the relevance of such contemplations to political and legal
strategists. We argue that Justice is impossible in the strictest sense of the term, and that
our proposed ethics provides us with a means to cope with this knowledge. We suggest
adopting a paradoxical stance in which Justice is conceivable, and in this sense possible,
on the basis of a constitutive impossibility. Our thesis demonstrates how the work of
Slavoj Zizek, Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Joan Copjec, and Renata Saleci, provide
us with a panoply of remarkably sophisticated (Lacanian) theoretical tools for the
purposes of presenting this paradoxical relationship.
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Extent |
12116783 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-02-27
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0077450
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1994-11
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.