Jacques Lacan He is one of the greatest representatives of the psychodynamic movement started years ago by Sigmund Freud, also one of the great figures of postmodernism. As admired by some as despised by others, his theoretical legacy has gone far beyond the clinical field in which he originated and has permeated numerous areas of philosophy and the social sciences. Even renowned intellectuals such as Slavoj Zizek base his philosophy on the work of Lacan.
However, Jacques Lacan is not known for formulating simple and easy-to-understand explanations, precisely. He left few written texts; he preferred to disseminate his ideas orally in seminars and, furthermore, His ideas were reformulated several times over the years
That is why people who propose to delve into Lacan’s work do not face an easy task. However, and although it is impossible to understand the work of this post-Freudian by reading a single article, you can keep in mind a series of guidelines to begin studying his work.
Jacques Lacan structures his work based on the great ideas about the human psyche that Sigmund Freud proposed years ago. After all, Lacan is a follower of the psychodynamic current and since his student years he wanted to apply the principles of psychoanalysis in the treatment of psychotic patients in mental institutions.
That is why to understand Lacan it is absolutely essential to know well the work of Sigmund Freud and his main theories, for example the one that talks about the human unconscious.
2. Read about structuralism and post-structuralism
Lacan’s work receives many influences from the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, who is considered one of the peers of structuralism. Learning about his distinction between signifier and signified is of capital importance to understand Lacan, who He theorized a lot about symbolic phenomena
To contextualize Saussure’s ideas, it is important to understand what structuralism and, by contrast, post-structuralism are.
3. Read introductory books on Lacan
Begin to understand Lacan from introductory guides It can make you begin to internalize the work of this intellectual from a biased perspective, but if the starting point is chosen well, it totally compensates. These readings will allow you to detect relatively easily what the fundamental pillars of Lacan’s theories are, to begin to build knowledge from those foundations.
If you know English, for example, you can start with this introductory book to Lacan.
4. Read texts by Lacan, but better if they are commented
After having chosen an introductory book to Lacan’s thought, you probably don’t have the time or inclination to read another one to review the same topics from a slightly different point of view, so You can now venture to read the texts of this thinker
However, it would not hurt if you used texts with comments from other authors interspersed. This will help you become familiar with the vocabulary he uses, which is important to understand Lacan because he used everyday terms with a different meaning than the one used by the majority of the population. By the way, If you understand French, there is no excuse not to read the original texts
To convey your Ideas, Lacan preferred to do it verbally, making his audience participate in a kind of learning session in real time based on the Socratic method. Since we no longer have the possibility of attending Jacques Lacan’s classes, discussion sessions with other learners of Lacan’s work can produce the same effect: confront ideas and interpretations, apply what has been read to recent cases, etc.
This conference was especially interesting (which also had a moment of extreme tension, starting at minute 28):
6. Keep in mind the limitations of Lacan’s work
The proposals of the psychodynamic current have no basis to explain the functioning of the human mind, as Freud intended, and Lacan’s work is no exception to this His contributions are, in any case, of a philosophical nature and of interest to the world of the humanities. It is necessary to take this into account so as not to fall into the trap of making everything that is known about reality have to fit into Lacan’s explanatory schemes. That would be little less than fundamentalism and would not help to create a faithful image of the theoretical legacy of this thinker.
7. Be patient
Understanding Lacan is an arduous task and there are very few shortcuts to quickly learn about his work That is why it is worth thinking about the idea that internalizing the Lacanian legacy will be a task that will require years of dedication in order not to become frustrated.
