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Abstract

SIMANKE, Richard Theisen. The universalization of the lack: the normative risk of Lacanian psychoanalysis. Winnicott e-prints [online]. 2012, vol.7, n.1, pp. 49-79. ISSN 1679-432X.

This paper starts from the analysis of Freud's theory of sexuality. Freud's critique of the medical theories of sexuality is reinterpreted as addressed to the normative character of their reduction of sexuality to reproduction, which is deconstructed by Freud in his Three essays. Next, it is discussed to what extent Freud was able to maintain his reflection on sexuality free from normative considerations. It is suggested that his sexual theory wavers between a discourse on the difference and a discourse on the lack; in the first case, the non-normative guideline could be maintained, but, in the second, male sexuality would be taken as a norm for the conception of female sex uality. The universalization of this discourse on the lack, which is typical of Lacanian psychoanalysis, would in turn bring with it the risk of generalizing this normative attitude. The effects of this attitude are then followed in the development of Lacan's ideas. Some of his most important concepts are reinterpreted as an effort to avoid or overcome these normative consequences, including the evolution of the concept of Name-of-the-Father, Lacan's late reflection on the specificity of the feminine enjoyment (jouissance) and, above all, his characterization of psychoanalysis as an ethical discourse and the notion of an ethics of the real. Finally, it is discussed to what extent this theoretical orientation undermines psychoanalysis conception as a transformative practice of the subject.

Keywords : Freud, Sigmund, 1856-1939; Lacan Lacan, Jacques, 1901-1981; lack; difference; norm.

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