University of Alberta Reading Lacan with Education: Applications, Implications, Possibilities Derek

217 Pages·2001·10.31 MB·English

University of Alberta
Reading Lacan with Education: Applications, Implications, Possibilities
Derek Briton O
A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial
hlfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in
Sociology of Education
Department of Eaucational Policy Studies
Edmonton, Alberta
F d 2 000
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This dissertation explores the implication oELacanian psychoanalytic theory in
pedagogic practice. It was inspired by the cultural commentaries of Slavoj iiiek's
(1989) remarkable The Sublime Object of ldeology and the pedagogical insights of
Shoshana Felrnan's (1987) ovarian c'Psychoanalysis and Education: Teaching
Terminable and Interminable." It proceeds as an exploration of, and investigation
into, the political, social, and cultural contexts of education, treating issues of
policy, learning, teaching, identity formation, and curriculum; it goes on to
explain why psychoanalytic knowledge is of a peculiar sort-why it cannot, for
example, simply be acquired, exchanged, or transmitted, why it must be exercised
J.
or put to work. It reveals how analytic leaming is predicated on an act of
transference or trust, and how Lacanian psychoanalysis challenges the very
foundation of the Western Humanist Tradition-the centered, rational
subject-but, contrary to popular belief, grounds knowledge in the subject itself.
It explains why psychoanalytic learning is what occurs in the pursuit of
psychoanalytic knowledge, not its understanding, why =things fall into place" for
the learner once understanding is bracketed, why psychoanalytic learning makes
no sense from the perspective of traditional conceptions of "knowledge,"
"understanding," and "learning," and why, from a Lacanian perspective, to truly
know, to truly understand, to truZy learn, one has to give up, or at least bracket,
one's conventional notions of knowledge, understanding, and learning. In sum,
the dissertation invites educators to join it in the pursuit of its own truth, of its
goal, its thesis that a minimal, even flawed, knowledge of Lacan can be put to
work in various educational contexts to gain greater insights into sorne of
education's most perplexing problems.
1 would like to acknowledge, first, the support, encouragement, and love of Gai1
Briton, my partner and Dean, Alex, and Clare Briton, my chiidren, throughout the
course of studies that culminated in this dissertation-they sacrificed much
during the years it took to bring this work to fruition; second, the efforts of my
CO-supervisors,m embers of my examining cornmittee, and my external reader;
thirdly, the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada.
To the women 1 owe so much to: Margaret Briton, my mother, who birthed and
envisaged for me greater things than 1 could ever imagine; Evelyn Swinney, my
sister, who loved and indulged me as an infant; Gai1 Briton, my partner, who has
loved, suffered, supported, and encouraged me through my studies and twenty-
five years of marriage; Clare Briton, my daughter, whose compassion, care, and
dedication 1t oo often overlook and too seldom acknowledge.
There are times in life when the question of knowing if one can think diffe~ently
than one thinks, and perceive differently than one sees, is absolutely necessary if
one is to go on looking and reflecting at all. People will Say, perhaps, that these
games with oneself would better be left backstage; or, at best, that they might
properly form part of those preliminary exercises that are forgotten once they
have served their purpose. But, then, what is philosophy today-philosophicaI
activity, 1m ean-if it is not the critical work that thought brings to bear on iitself?
In what does it consist, if not in the endeavor to know how and to what extent it
might be possible to think differently, instead of Iegitimating what is alaeady
known?
(Foucault, 1990, pp. 8-9)
Table of Contents
........................ ..............r... . ..............
CmPTER ONE .......... 1
LACANA ND PEDAGOGY.. ....................................................................................... 1
The Psyc?zoiirnalytic Renewal ............................................................................. I
Firtdiïzg a Way In ............................................................................................... 3
Portentorts Parallels .......................................................................................... 4
ï7ze Psychoanalytic Challenge ........................................................................... 6
The Decentred Sztbject ................................................................................... 8
Iiz the LNzeage of Rationalisnt .......................................................................... 10
Reading Lacan ................................................................................................ I l
Tnut versris Understanding ............................................................................. 14
Putting Psychoanalysis to Work ...................................................................... 15
î7zose In the Know Are Lost ............................................................................. 17
The Goal versrts the Aitn of Leanziizg ..... .. ...................................................... 18
The Pursuit of Tnrth ........................................................................................ 20
Wlzy Edricati~zgI s arz Impossible Professioiz ..................................................... 21
Mapp iizg the Ter ra in ........................................................................................ -7 -7
Dialectical Metlzod .......................................................................................... 26
Tlze Parlzs of Tmth. .......................................................................................... 27
Trrttlr versrrs htegniy ................................................................................... 28
The Work of Reflectio~z. ............................................................................... 29
CHAPTERO NE NOTES. .......................................................................................... 31
............................... ........................ ....................................
CHAPTER TWO 35
MARKETSPEATKH: ER HETORICO F RESTRUCTURL~UAGND ITS LWLICATIONS FOR
&GER EDUCATIO..N.. ......................................................................................... 35
The AlZrire of tlze New Riglzt ............................................................................. 35
The Polirics of Rencrio~z.. ................................................................................. 38
A Post?rzodenzismo f Resistar~ce.. ..................................................................... 39
TIze Postnzodenz Coizditioiz .............................................................................. 41
La~zgrlagea nd the New World Order ............................................................... 44
Resrtnrrirtg Old and New .................................................................................. 46
The Conzlrzodificatio~zo f Crtltrire ........... ... ..............*..........*.............................. 48
The Srtbsrurzptiu~zo f Crtltrtre ............................................................................. 50
The Project of Modenii~... .............................................................................. 52
Building on Hegelnony ................ ... ................................................................. 55
Brrying to Fil1 the Criltrcral Vo id.. ..................................................................... 57
World as SNnrtlacra ......................................................................................... 59
Ed~tcarioiza izd Postmodenzity ........................................................................ 60
The Challerzge to Ecltrcators ............................................................................. 62
CHMTERT WON OTES .......................................................................................... 63
..........................................................................................
CHAPTER THREE 69
THED ECE~VTRSEUDB JECTP:E DAGOGICIAMLPL ICATIONS ...................................... 69
Three Impossible Professions ................... ... ................................................ 69
Reading Lacan ................................................................................................ 71
A Genealogy of the Szlbject .............................................................................. 72
Representiizg the "1" ....................................................................................... 74
subject as Signifier .......................................................................................... 75
Sazaszt re 'sS ign ............................................................................................... 77
En~tnciatedv erszis Enztnciator ......................................................................... 79
Implications for Edztcation .............................................................................. 80
The Effects of Langzrage .................................................................................. 82
77ze Desire to Ignore ........................................................................................ 83
The Dynamic of Leanzi~zg.. .............................................................................. 85
Doztble Ignorance .......................................................................................... 86
Knotvledge as Irredrrcibly Dialogical .......................................................... 88
CHAPTERRF REE NOTES. ..................................................................................... 9 0
.................................................................................................
CHAPTER FOUR 92
THET EACHNG~M AGINARY:C OLLECTIVIDEE NTITIYN A POST-PREFIXEADG E. ...... 92
TIre Crtrrent Irnpasse ................... .. .............................................................. 92
112 rlze Begirzrzing .............................................................................................. 93
I~zstitrrtiorzalR efomz ......................................................................................... 95
Tlze Inzpacr of Practical K~zoivledge.. ............................................................... 96
A Scierzce of Edrrcatioïz .................................................................................... 97
In Searclz of New Alinvers ............................................................................... 99
n e P roblerîz of Legitinzacy ............................................................................ 100
The Narzire of lderztiv .................................................................................... 101
The Irzstitririorz of Conzïmtrzity. ........................................................................ IO3
Lacan 's Sclzerna L ......................................................................................... 105
A Lacaniarz Notion of Law ............................................................................ 106
The Qriilting Point ......................................................................................... IO8
TIze Problem of the Political .......................................................................... 110
Ciroosing a Cow-se of Action ......................................................................... 111
.
Leader Militartt. or Teaclzer Edrrcator? ......................................................... 112
Cozmteracting Brtreartcracy ........................................................................... 113
The Challenge: Mairztaining Reflecriorz ............... ........ ., ... ........................ 116
CHAPTEFRO URN OTES... .................. ..... ............................................................ 118
. ..................... ............................ .....
CHAPTER FIVE 122
L E ~THE~ SUBGJEC TO F DESLR..E.. ................................................................. 132
Discenzilzg Desire .......................................................................................... 122
Knowledge and Tra~zsfereïzc.e.. ..................................................................... 123
The Trortble rvith Trartsfererzce ................................ .. ................................. 125
The Desire for Tmt?z. ..................................................................................... 128
Psyclzoarzalysis and Tnltk ................... ... ................................................... 131
Lacan's "Critique of Pzrre Desire" ................................................................ 132
Kojève 's Conception of History ..................................................................... 133
nie Ternary Narzrre of Lacan's nioz~gh.t. ...................................................... 135
From Word to Langrrage .................... .. ...................................................... 136
Rethïnking Psychoa?zalytic Practice ............................................................... 139
RetJzinXing tlze Contradiction ......................................................1..4.0.. ..............
CK~PTERFW EN OTE.S.. .............. ., ..................................................................... 142
..................................... ................................................ ...........
CHAPTER SIX 146
FROMS UBECTT O OBJEC.T... .................... .. .................................................. 146
Synzptorn as Ciphered Message ...................................................................... 146
Lacan's Forcr Discoz~rse.s.. ............................................................................ 149
Lacan's Four Places and Tems ........................ ......................................... 150
,..
Lacan 's Four Discoru-ses of the Master ' Uti versiq, Hysteric. and Analyst .... 151
TIze Discortrse oftlze uni ver si^ ..................................................................... 153
Sy~nptoma s Real ........................................................................................... 15.5
Revisiorrirzg the Real ...................................................................................... 157
Desir-e and TnrrT&izoi.vledge ......................................................................... 160
The Objectrjïcation of Tnrth. .......................................................................... 163
Tlze Srhject of a Question .............................................................................. 165
Ideiztzfication with rlze Thi~zg... ....................................................................... 167
rire Other's Una~zswerableQ zrestio~z.. ........................................................... 168
C HAPTER SIXN OTES .......................................................................................... 171
.............................................................................................
CHAPTER SEVEN 172
ESTABLISHINTGHE TRUT.H... .............................................................................. 172
The Pzrrsztit of Tnttlz ...................................................................................... 172
The Master's Discorirse ................................................................................. 174
Wzat Will Have Beeiz ..................................................................................... 176
How a Shift in Signifiiizg Networks Dzrers fronz a S?zz$t in Perspective .......... 177
Tra?zsfere~zcae s the Path to Corzversiorz. ........................................................ 179
Wry a Lacanian Sigrzzfiiizg Nenvork? ............................................................ 181
The Lacarziarz Notiorz of Tndz. ....................................................................... 184
Teadzing the Unteacizable ........................................................................... 186
Coritingerzcy: the Mother of Necessity ............................................................ 188
The Irztenizirzable Pztrsuit of Tnttlz ................................................................. 190
CHAPTERS EVENNO TES. ..................................................................................... 193
Chapter One
Lacan and Pedagogy
The reason for the usual misinterpretations of both Lacan's and
Freud's pedagogical contribution lies in a misunderstanding of the
critical position taken by psychoanalysis with respect to traditional
methods and assumptions of education. Lacan's well-known
critique of what he has pejoratively termcd "academic discourse"
(le discours universitaire) situates "the radical vice" in "the
transmission of knowledge." Lacan thus blames "the narrow-
minded horizon of pedagogues" for having reduced the strong
notion of teaching to a "fimctional apprenticeship." (Felman, 1987,
p. 71)
The Psychoanalflic Renewal
This dissertation explores the implication of Lacanian psychoanalytic theory in
pedagogic practice. It was inspired by the cultural commentaries of Slavoj iiiek's
(1989) remarkable The Sublime Object of Ideology and the pedagogical insights of
Shoshana Felman's (1987) ovarian Vsychoanalysis and Education: Teaching
Terminable and Interminable."L It proceeds as an exploration of, and
investigation into, the political, social, and cultural contexts of education, treating