Subjectivity and Otherness ─ A Philosophical Reading of Lacan

Countering the call by some "pro-Lacanians" for an end to the exegesis ofLacan's work--and the dismissal by "anti-Lacanians" of Lacan as impossiblyimpenetrable--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 aphilosophical perspective, the evolution of the concept of subjectivity in Lacan's work, carryingout a detailed reading of the Lacanian subject in its necessary relation to otherness according toLacan's orders of the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real. Chiesa emphasizes the continuityunderlying apparently incompatible phases of Lacan's examination of the subject, describing Lacan'stheory as a consistent philosophical system--but one that is constantly revised and thereforeproblematic. 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 generalpsychoanalytic discourse that becomes increasingly complex. From the 1960s on, writes Chiesa, theLacanian subject amounts to an irreducible lack that must be actively confronted and assumed; this"subjectivized lack," Chiesa argues further, offers an escape from the contemporaryimpasse between the "death of the subject" alleged by postmodernism and a return to atraditional "substantialist" notion of the subject. An original treatment ofpsychoanalytic issues, Subjectivity and Otherness fills a significant gap in the existing literatureon Lacan, taking seriously the need for a philosophical investigation of Lacanian concepts.LorenzoChiesa is a Lecturer at the School of European Culture and Languages, University of Kent, UnitedKingdom. He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on Lacanian theory.

Lorenzo Chiesa is a Lecturer at the School of European Culture and Languages, University of Kent, United Kingdom. He has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on Lacanian theory and contemporary French philosophy, and serves as Production Editor for the Journal for Lacanian Studies.