Seminar X -- Lecture 2

0:00these sessions

0:03for posterity but also so the folks who

0:05can't make it here tonight of which

0:06there are a couple

0:08um

0:09can also have an opportunity

0:11to catch up

0:13so um let's start by opening the floor

0:16to some questions

0:18from last time

0:20whatever's on your mind whatever still

0:22needs to be clarified

0:25we're obviously going to be doing some

0:26review today of

0:28desire demand

0:30need and the like

0:31we're going to be talking about um the

0:34name of the father paternal function

0:36this little fee and minus fee that we

0:38were working on last time

0:40fantasy anxiety and finally in seminar

0:4310 with chapters 5 through 8 we get a

0:46little bit of sadism

0:48with this famous divine dictum to enjoy

0:52exclamation point

0:54which for those of you who are readers

0:57of lacan and freud know that this is the

0:58super ego's basic commandment is enjoy

1:02exclamation point

1:04emphasis on the exclamation point here

1:06because

1:07you can see the juices of the big other

1:09here

1:10they enjoy giving you the dictum

1:13not surprisingly it's also an order that

1:15you cannot satisfy

1:17which is why its source is usually the

1:19superego

1:21that's that part of you that loves to

1:22see you fail and flop around

1:24mine minus the same way they are all the

1:26same way

1:28okay so

1:29that interlude aside questions from last

1:32time concepts to clarify

1:40can i just ask a question about the

1:42style of lachan

1:44sort of um

1:46why does he talk like that

1:49is this just the linguistic barrier

1:52because

1:53i became interested in french because of

1:55the khan i was hoping once i mastered

1:57the french language which i still

1:58haven't but i hope that once i

2:00understand french language i will find

2:02out that's how all french people talk

2:04but then i realize it's totally not the

2:06case

2:07so why does he talk in convoluted way he

2:10never dwells on one subject and explain

2:13it thoroughly like what you're doing he

2:15jumped he like he's cycling through

2:18different topics dropping lines here and

2:20there and then was he somehow trying to

2:24put us all through

2:26uh

2:27cliffhangers so we could keep coming

2:29back to their seminar and nothing will

2:31make sense until you finish the entire

2:33lecture is that the goal

2:36i don't think so although i do believe

2:38that he was um quite the show person and

2:41really did enjoy leaving people hanging

2:44and definitely wanted students to come

2:46back

2:47and certainly thought that um that to

2:50get the most out of his seminars would

2:52be to attend year after year

2:55you have to also remember that he's

2:56primarily training clinicians even

2:59though he's doing a lot of philosophical

3:00and literary work

3:02he he when he looks out into his

3:04audience he thinks as though i'm seeing

3:06clinicians to be

3:08and some in many cases clinicians

3:10already um very well accomplished

3:14um as for why he talks the way he talks

3:17so here we're just dealing with his work

3:19in the seminars and not in his writings

3:22but if you've dep if you've dipped into

3:23a cree you know that his writings are

3:25even more difficult

3:27and just as elusive they're just denser

3:31so the way that his communication broke

3:33basically worked was he would generate

3:35ideas

3:37in the seminar

3:38work them out live

3:41and then usually take those ideas and

3:45condense them into an essay

3:48that would then appear in a cree

3:50so usually you can read a seminar or two

3:54and then stumble into a lacan essay and

3:56see him really trying to crystallize a

3:58lot of the concepts that he's working

4:00out in the seminar the seminars can

4:02definitely be meandering and things like

4:05that

4:06but so also is the dream

4:09there's a very real sense in which what

4:10lacan is trying to do

4:12in keeping with his surrealist roots and

4:15i would suggest that those are one of

4:17two major routes for lacanian thought

4:20the other being hegelianism as

4:23understood by kojiev in particular who

4:25was lacan's teacher in the 30s but

4:28surrealism

4:29was a great influence

4:32to lacan and i would suggest that it's a

4:34great way to read some of the seminars

4:37to read him as trying to perform the

4:40unconscious the way a surrealist might

4:44so remember that part of what he's doing

4:46in training analysts is training people

4:48to listen

4:49and this recurs throughout all of his

4:51writings a great emphasis

4:53on listening listening to the analyzand

4:56speech as though reading a musical score

4:59and so he was training people not just

5:02to master the concepts in the math

5:04themes but also to learn to listen

5:07like an analyst

5:09and as a result in order to help them do

5:11that he oftentimes tried to speak like a

5:14patient

5:16and so if you move forward into like

5:18seminar 23 or something on the synthol

5:21where he's writing about joyce lacan's

5:23at the end of his career

5:25you don't even see that much speech

5:26anymore you see a series of diagrams

5:29he'd often show up with a line of rope

5:32and just tie knots for people

5:34and then diagram the knots

5:36so there's almost there's a retreat from

5:38speech even in the later work so if you

5:41think he's elusive now in the middle of

5:43his stuff wait till you get to the later

5:45stuff

5:46um i i think it's terrific all of his

5:49work i think it's wonderful because it's

5:51organic

5:52and that's another thing xinhua that i

5:54would hold in mind as you get into these

5:56texts and you're wondering what the heck

5:57is going on

5:59he's experimenting

6:01he's oftentimes developing this stuff

6:03live

6:04yeah he has some notes but he's very

6:06much experimenting

6:08so for instance the formulas that he

6:10develops in the early part of seminar 10

6:13which we've been reading

6:15he doesn't really come back to those

6:16formulas he was testing those out

6:19messing around with the number zero

6:21and doing some pretty good work with it

6:23but then he's pretty much done

6:26so there are some concepts and tables

6:28and diagrams in lacon

6:30that start strong

6:33but then he just drops them

6:36a great essay in which to see this model

6:39i believe perfected

6:41is the essay that coincides with the

6:44seminar on anxiety this is his essay on

6:46the subversion of the subject and the

6:48dialectic of desire and the freudian

6:50unconscious

6:53all of this stuff starts to develop for

6:54him in the late 50s and kind of peaks in

6:57the early 60s i think it's some of his

6:59best stuff

7:00but what's great about this essay is you

7:02can see him

7:04building the graph of desire

7:07one of his most substantial graphs in my

7:09view is the graph of desire

7:11and you can see him in this essay

7:13showing you okay here's like the basic

7:15graph

7:17graph one here's graph two

7:20here's how i get from graph two to the

7:22completed graph he's showing you how he

7:24builds an idea

7:26and

7:27you know making matters even more

7:29challenging is that because he's an

7:30organic thinker

7:33and because he's learning from anna

7:35lazan's

7:36and his own work as he goes

7:38a lot of concepts change over time

7:42so what lacan means by the real when he

7:44first introduces it

7:47is going to be even more developed and

7:49different by the time he's done with the

7:51concept

7:52it's the least of the most of the of the

7:55treated registers of his three

7:59and it's sometimes difficult to find

8:01some really clean definitions of the

8:03reel i believe that they are there

8:06they're about 340 pages into ecree

8:09and he really starts to pop here in his

8:11response to hippolyte

8:13who is writing a response to freud's

8:161925 essay on negation

8:18so if you look at lacan's response to

8:20hip elite for instance you can see some

8:23really nice definitions of the reel the

8:26real is that which is excised from the

8:29symbolics founding moments

8:33but where does he go with it after that

8:35on to the next topic

8:38so xinhua you asked the question that i

8:40think all readers of lacan ask which is

8:43why does he talk this way

8:45why is he doing it this way is he

8:47purposefully making it challenging

8:50only so much as the new york times makes

8:53a crossword puzzle challenging

8:58only in so far as the unconscious makes

9:00your dream enigmatic

9:02only in so far as the analyzand shows up

9:07and creates a job for you

9:10so he's very much working at as an

9:13intellectual and as an artist

9:16but always as an analyst training other

9:19analysts

9:20to do the careful work of listening to

9:22somebody who's kind of all over the

9:24place

9:26and yet at the same time i would just

9:28submit this

9:29and this is the primary reason why i

9:31have been working with lacan the past

9:34several years is

9:37i have yet to find anybody whose thought

9:39is more systematic and whose thought

9:42hangs together more tightly

9:44than lacan's work

9:47i know that's an odd thing to say but

9:49conceptually speaking

9:51this is right up there with hegel

9:53and lacan knows it

9:57so i believe that it's coherent despite

10:01all of the

10:03incoherence that you see when you look

10:05at a page of lacan

10:08and i always just hold that in mind

10:12can i just ask something i just love the

10:14explanation

10:15and i love the connection to surrealism

10:18that reminds me of you know in graduate

10:20school iowa we were always talking about

10:23orality versus literacy and how um

10:26literacy like the

10:28the one of those most read

10:32saints sages like jesus and confucius

10:36they all have only spoken and we were

10:39only listening to the dictation of their

10:42disciples

10:43and sounds like us reading lacan seminar

10:46is achieving a similar effect that

10:49although we're you know dominated by

10:51we're reading the written word which is

10:53actually

10:55you know like surrounding the oral word

10:58the the spoken word um and i think it's

11:01a great way maybe

11:03i no i i i just think that this is very

11:05profound and maybe um it would be a good

11:08idea for some of us to do our

11:10scholarship through the order world like

11:12you know just in the class

11:14just lecture and have the student to

11:16write down our speech and then publish

11:18it

11:21i can tell you it's a much more

11:22efficient way to go but i don't know

11:24about you but it's pretty horrifying to

11:26look at transcripts of my own lectures

11:32you think it sounds good when you're

11:33doing it live but then you sit down and

11:35look at the thing and and

11:38good lord what a fool i am

11:40well because you applied so much

11:42censorship and critical

11:44you know ability when you're looking

11:46back yourself someone else reading your

11:49recording may found it brilliant

11:52so

11:54well i yes i enjoy the last recording

11:56thoroughly so i'm i'm sure you're not

11:58blabbering like a fool

11:59shing why you're very kind what else is

12:01on your mind y'all

12:04please please um

12:06by all means

12:07chime in

12:48some of you who are teachers you know

12:49that

12:50after about three seconds of asking

12:53does anybody have any questions if

12:55nobody says anything it gets hella

12:57awkward and

12:59usually someone will say something

13:01ridiculous just to break the silence

13:03typically it's can you please repeat the

13:05question or something along those lines

13:06we are not that

13:08so i'm totally down for the silence

13:11and absolutely willing to wait as you

13:14sift through your notes and look at the

13:16book and

13:19see what comes to mind this is at once a

13:21bit of review but also a chance for me

13:24to kind of take your temperature

13:26the old-fashioned way and to see where

13:28you are with this material

14:04does that mean you want me to just blast

14:05forward

14:07thumbs up if you want me to just like

14:08blast forward i mean i'm happy to do

14:10some rev okay all right all right let's

14:12do it okay

14:14so

14:17we're here in chapters five through

14:18eight

14:20of seminar ten and last time we were

14:23working with

14:24some weird modeling early modelings of

14:27the graph of desire

14:29so i'm going to try and do a screen

14:31share here

14:33and if this were if this goes according

14:35to plan you should be able to see me

14:39diagramming some stuff

14:42initially with a black screen and then

14:45with some colorful

14:46writing on it

14:48and i'm not going to be able to see you

14:49while i do this

14:51so

14:53let me know

14:55by words that you can see what i'm

14:57drawing here

15:00looks good

15:01triangle okay great thanks

15:16you all recognize this

15:21yeah

15:22[Music]

15:23thanks

15:29this is what we were toying with last

15:30time

15:31and we were trying to get at each of

15:33these terms

15:35in order to ultimately give us a pretty

15:38good definition of this character right

15:41here

15:42because you'll recall what happens when

15:44anxiety besets the subject

15:47is that the desire of the big other here

15:51symbolized by capital a those who that

15:54read french you know why

15:57become so overwhelming

15:59so enveloping so inescapable that it

16:02effectively squashes our desire leaves

16:05us with no breathing room

16:08and the result is this feeling of

16:09anxiety

16:11we're going to dig into this tonight and

16:13in the coming lectures but i want to

16:15first make sure that we've got all of

16:17our terms straightened out here

16:20so let's get down to this character here

16:23what does this triangle symbolize

16:28the subject is a being of pure

16:31biological need

16:32brilliant thank you

16:34yes

16:35here's need down here and you're right

16:37it's kind of like a bio

16:39material

16:43so

16:44this is the infant

16:46is that is the example we were working

16:48with last time

16:49who's effectively a worm with arms and

16:52legs zero motor skills completely

16:54discombobulated but that nevertheless is

16:57able to cry

17:02notice how i wrote cry here instead of

17:04wha

17:06technically i shouldn't really write

17:08anything here

17:10because in this field

17:12nothing is happening

17:14except noise

17:16until you reach big a the only thing

17:18that's happening

17:20is noise

17:21so i'll erase it

17:25are you all with me so far

17:27yes all right now big a here symbolizes

17:30the big other as we've said

17:36what else can you tell me about this big

17:38a relative to the child's cry

17:42i don't see anything

17:46raise your hand thumbs up if you can see

17:48the screen

17:51okay

17:52i don't i don't know what to say

17:55um

17:56let me let me stop sharing and then i'll

17:58try and share again and we'll see if

18:01it works

18:04um

18:05i was using my ipad initially and i

18:08couldn't see it so i had to pull it up

18:10desktop so i don't know

18:12i could see it on the desktop but i

18:13couldn't see it on my ipad

18:15okay so maybe a computer is needed to do

18:18this

18:19rest assured you have this in your notes

18:21too from last time through here so

18:26and also note that i will be posting

18:28these images

18:29um as well so you'll have access to them

18:32sounds like it's working so let's keep

18:34going here

18:35um

18:36big other here capital a

18:39in a circle what does it mean

18:42primary caretaker yeah this could be our

18:45pc right here

18:48here's your primary caretaker i love too

18:51that we have a slippage in english

18:52between caretaker and caregiver

18:55this is the big other originally as a

18:57primary caretaker typically a parent

19:01but it could also be anybody

19:05big other here though for lacan is also

19:08um an inventory

19:15and apologies for my handwriting it's

19:16quite sloppy but i hope you'll get the

19:19idea

19:20the big a here represents a catalog

19:23or a totalizing set of everything that's

19:26possible in a situation so the example

19:29you'll recall i used from last time was

19:31calling my brother up and asking him

19:33what do i do if my kid starts to cry

19:36and he said well there are really only

19:37four things that you can do

19:40you can

19:41change the diaper

19:43feed the child

19:44etc etc these are all the possibilities

19:47in a given field of conduct

19:52and this is precisely where

19:54michel foucault would determine the

19:57modern theory of power

19:59power is not forcing somebody to do

20:01something

20:02it's about operating on the field of

20:05possible conduct available to them

20:08so power means

20:09narrowing somebody's field of

20:11possibilities

20:14power works by saying you only have a

20:16few options

20:17when in fact you probably have twenty

20:21this is also a lesson that alambad you

20:24would learn through lacan in his

20:26development of set theory in his account

20:28for the state as a counting mechanism

20:30it's about controlling the field of

20:33possibilities

20:34the big other is this field of

20:36possibilities

20:39it is a catalog of all the possible

20:43words in the english language for

20:45instance

20:46these are all the laws the norms

20:51that shore up

20:53this conversation

20:54western society whatever the hell you

20:56want

20:58this is another word at this point in

21:00leon's career for the symbolic

21:03so i think we could do some pretty good

21:04work over here

21:11by making this the field of the symbolic

21:15so what happens is

21:17the child cries out

21:19in a moment of pure need here down at

21:21the bottom

21:23that meets

21:25this register here which is the register

21:28of language

21:30or signification

21:33that's what this arrow indicates

21:36this is language

21:38beneath it is pre-linguistic you might

21:40say

21:41if you play with this arrow

21:44and above it would be

21:47society

21:49language use and what happens as you'll

21:51recall

21:53in this moment

21:55is that the primary caregiver has the

21:58task of trying to interpret

22:01the meaning of the child's cry so here

22:03we see a lower

22:05italicized s

22:08meaning signified or meaning

22:11according to the big other

22:15so this is the decision

22:19or the interpretation

22:25of the big other

22:27this is them deciding as a primary

22:29caregiver does whether to bring you a

22:31blanket first or a fresh diaper

22:35this is the assignment of meaning to the

22:37cry

22:42what this does effectively is it

22:44transforms

22:46the expression of need

22:48into this very important term for us

22:51demand

22:56a demand is a need expressed in language

22:59and what's interesting about this model

23:01is that

23:03it is a signed to the infant by the

23:06primary caregiver the transformation of

23:09need

23:10into demand is something that is done

23:13by the primary caregiver

23:16at this level of interpreting of

23:18interpretation

23:20and now with that we get to our key

23:22point here

23:23what is produced

23:25from this

23:27activity

23:29what does this s here

23:31signify to you

23:34split subject

23:36you got it

23:38the subject after alienation

23:40yes

23:44what's wild is that this is a great

23:46outcome

23:47being divided is a terrific outcome

23:51having this split through you

23:53is a normalizing

23:55function in the lacanian

23:58tradition

23:59we'll come to that in a moment let's

24:00first focus on the worlds between which

24:04this newfound subject is split

24:08one of them

24:10is the embodied part

24:19here we would see the enunciating

24:20subject

24:30this would be a bio subject as well

24:35so here we see the facts of need and

24:38biomateriality

24:40still contained in the subject

24:43the subject is still embodied they're

24:45still driven by certain elements they're

24:47still a biomaterialistic being

24:50but they are also

24:52now linguistic

24:58they're now not only biomaterial but

25:00also sociolinguistic

25:07and this is the fundamental split they

25:10are not only enunciating subjects but

25:12also what lacan calls grammatical

25:14subjects

25:17which is to say subjects that are

25:21dependent on

25:23and subject to the defiles of the

25:25signifier of language

25:28so so to be a split subject is to have

25:31embodied

25:33impulses you might say but then also to

25:35realize that in order to get them met or

25:38addressed you have to articulate them in

25:41and that's an important part of this

25:43whole process

25:45need expressed in language is demand

25:48and once need and demand are brought

25:51together you have this

25:53competing impulse in every subject

25:56there's the biomaterial urge let's say

25:59to [ __ ] when you need to

26:02and then there's the sociolinguistic

26:03imperative on only [ __ ] at certain

26:06times and in certain places

26:10and we're usually torn between these two

26:12worlds

26:14now not surprisingly what interests

26:16lacan here

26:18is not this very simplistic splitting of

26:21the subject

26:24and the two sides of it but this element

26:27right here

26:30the bar

26:32which signals a gap

26:41hold up y'all this my systems are

26:43getting a little slow here with this

26:44unit

26:46a gap

26:47a cut

26:50will eventually become object

26:53it's an opening a furrow

26:56and

26:57for now i want to give us a really clear

26:59definition of this object this little a

27:02that plagues lacanians left and right

27:05it's not that complicated

27:08little a

27:10and quote me on this

27:12is the minimum distance between two

27:15entities that allows them to remain

27:18distinct

27:19that's all it is

27:21it's an irreducible

27:23minimum distance between two entities

27:26without which you wouldn't have two

27:28entities

27:29instead you'd have one

27:32and that's what this barred subject is

27:36doing

27:37so in other words there are three

27:38elements here

27:40in the split subject

27:43there's the sociolinguistic side of

27:45things and the biomaterialistic side of

27:48things nothing new there but there's

27:49this third element this cut or this gap

27:52or this bar

27:54that allows these two

27:57aspects of the self

28:01to exist as distinct to be experienced

28:04as distinct

28:06and great examples of this abound in

28:08today's digital culture i won't trot

28:10them out for you again except to remind

28:12you of what it's like

28:15to sit on the toilet in your nasty

28:17pajamas posting a beautiful picture of

28:20your handsome ass from last night when

28:23you were looking good on the dance floor

28:25to instagram

28:27there's your

28:28virtual self that occurs at the level of

28:31the selfie that looks great this would

28:33be your grammatical subject and then

28:35there's the grungy ass hungover

28:38jammy toilet sitting subject the

28:40embodied subject who felt the urge to

28:44publish such a thing

28:47okay

28:48i'm going to pause here for a second and

28:50open the floor again for questions

28:51before i save this diagram and move on

28:53to another

29:04may i ask a question again yes go ahead

29:08thank you um

29:10i am two

29:12so one is a

29:14quick question and the other one's a

29:16little bit bigger the first question is

29:20the split subject

29:22um

29:23the two parts that are separated by the

29:25bar

29:26is it fair to say that that's the

29:28difference between

29:29thinking and being

29:32in philosophy

29:36no

29:38in fact i would suggest that for lacon

29:40there's a different split if you want to

29:42if you want to play with the old

29:43philosophical one

29:45it would be the split between

29:47having

29:49and being

29:52this becomes very apparent when we start

29:54thinking about the phallus

29:57it's one thing

29:58to have

30:00the phallus

30:02it's something else to be it

30:06for someone else so think about the

30:08phallus in this case very simply as just

30:11the microphone

30:13it's better to have the mic

30:15than it is to be the mic

30:17you feel me

30:19it's much better to have the mic and to

30:22be able to drop it

30:24when you need to

30:25than it is to be somebody else's

30:27microphone

30:28an object to be dropped at will

30:32so for lacan the great split here is

30:34between having and being

30:36not between thinking and being

30:39if he were going to even go down that

30:41path he might say between speaking and

30:43being but for him speech don't forget is

30:45an embodied practice

30:48speech has as much to do with language

30:50use as it does with

30:53tongue movement

30:56so i like the split between having and

30:58being as a slightly more productive one

31:00here so we each have a grammatical self

31:04you could even put the ego on that side

31:05of things

31:08but we each also are

31:11fundamentally human animals

31:14being is on the side of embodiment the

31:16enunciating subject and biomateriality

31:19for lacan

31:21you could if you were going to push the

31:22freudian categories and freud's later

31:24development

31:25you could put the id on that side

31:29but i would i would the split if you're

31:31going to run it conceptually i would say

31:33is between uh having and being

31:37and never thought of that before

31:42when

31:43um when you get into lacan's revision of

31:46pre-editable triangles and the um and

31:50the editable intervention of the quote

31:52father here of course we mean the

31:53subject position occupied by somebody

31:55who performs a specific function

31:58and what

31:59the oedipus

32:01moment signifies for lacan

32:04is this moment of intervention

32:07where the child learns

32:09and listen carefully here

32:12that the primary caregiver does not have

32:16the phallus

32:18and that the child cannot be the phallus

32:22for the primary caregiver

32:25that'll make more sense as we get back

32:27into some of our other models from last

32:28time but that's a good example of where

32:30you see the being and having

32:32dialectic worked out

32:35meanwhile thinking is probably the

32:37entire premise of

32:39both sides of the cut

32:42all of this are thinking

32:44well it's it's tricky xinhua because you

32:47have to recall that what lacan does with

32:50thinking is marches it back to this

32:52great critique of descartes

32:55because what psychoanalysis introduces

32:58is

32:59the very real truth of thought which is

33:03we're always thinking precisely where we

33:06think we're not thinking

33:08namely in the unconscious

33:11our best thoughts are occurring

33:12precisely in the field of human

33:14experience where we don't believe any

33:17thinking occurs at all

33:19this is lacan's great corrective to the

33:22cartesian belief that i think therefore

33:25i am right so this is happening in the

33:27mid 50s

33:28um

33:29it's in his essay on the agency of the

33:32unconscious terrific essay on language

33:34by the way a lot of the modeling that

33:36you see in the graph of desire is being

33:38developed

33:39in that early essay from the 50s

33:42it's one that communication scholars

33:44usually have the most fun with

33:46it's the one also where he draws two

33:48perfectly identical

33:50doors and then writes ladies and

33:53gentlemen above the top

33:55and then shows how if you just switch

33:57the names the signifier determines the

33:59signified in that case the words above

34:02the door tell you exactly what's

34:04happening behind that door so the

34:06signifier determines the signify this is

34:08his inversion of cesar it's great work

34:11but in that essay

34:12you see him trotting out a major

34:15critique of thought

34:18what lacan's going to say is where you

34:21think you're thinking at the level of

34:22the ego at the level of consciousness

34:26you're in fact most ignorant

34:32however where you think you're not

34:33thinking namely in the unconscious this

34:36is your most

34:37brilliant insight

34:39so if you want to play this out even

34:41further you would say that um

34:43the split and lecon conceptually to work

34:46out here is between knowledge and truth

34:49knowledge is the field of the ego

34:52of the grammatical subject

34:55it requires language and coherence in

34:57order to operate

34:59and ignorance lecon said would say

35:02is not the negation of knowledge but its

35:05most elaborate form

35:09ignorance is the most elaborate form of

35:11knowledge we have

35:15all of which he puts in opposition to

35:18truth

35:21everything that we know quote about

35:24ourselves at the level of conscious

35:27intent

35:28ego etc

35:31pales in comparison to the truth of who

35:33we are

35:35as subjects of the unconscious

35:38so knowledge and the ego go on one side

35:41and truth and the unconscious go on the

35:43other so that's another way to run this

35:45out xinhua without falling into the trap

35:48thought

35:50the first conceptual distinction again

35:52between being and having and the second

35:54conceptual distinction

35:56here between knowledge and truth

36:00yep

36:03at this point

36:05what's on your mind

36:09i can't help but think that this is like

36:11a metaphorical form of language

36:14it seems so

36:17i don't know like when you're talking

36:18about

36:20the embodiment of the signifier it seems

36:25i mean it seems very

36:28you know psychoanalytic in the sense of

36:30like images that these images are not

36:33necessarily language and we're trying to

36:34put something on language or we're

36:36trying to develop the language

36:38but there's we're still developing

36:40language around this realm that's more

36:44of an image

36:45i don't know

36:46such as what i'm thinking that it's very

36:49like a metaphorical language that we're

36:52trying to pin down

36:56your choice of word here metaphor is so

36:58important

36:59because it's exactly what what's at

37:02stake

37:03in

37:05the development of desire as a defense

37:07against anxiety

37:10and here the metaphor in question is the

37:12paternal metaphor

37:14where

37:15the name of the father

37:18replaces the desire of the mother

37:22i'll leave that as a riddle for now but

37:23i just want to mark what desiree is

37:25saying

37:26and say that metaphor is so the

37:28operative word here

37:31we haven't even got to it yet

37:33brilliant

37:34what else

37:42okay then i want to go back to this

37:44screen if no one else is asking

37:46questions can i ask one more question

37:48you get one more question just okay

37:50thank you oh thank you

37:52i have to leave um in the 20 minutes

37:54also oh okay

37:56i won't bother you too much

37:58um so the graph of desire the

38:01the fancy one that you just drew i'm

38:04wondering

38:05where

38:06how does this fare in the picture of the

38:08relationship between desire and the law

38:12part of today's reading i think at some

38:13point he was talking about desire and

38:15the law

38:16sort of like two sides of the same coin

38:19or you know something like that the con

38:21is even more explicit they are the same

38:24they are the same thing they're not even

38:26opposite of each other no they are

38:28exactly the same

38:30and the reason why they are the same is

38:32because they say they share the exact

38:34same foundation

38:36desire and the law are both founded on

38:40prohibition

38:43they are founded on

38:45the no

38:47on the thou shalt not

38:51because that's effectively what happens

38:53when the primary caregiver turns to the

38:56child and says okay we're not gonna cry

38:58anymore let's use your big boy words

39:02use your words i can't understand you

39:04when you're crying

39:06that's effectively a big [ __ ] you to the

39:09child

39:10and it says you don't get to cry like a

39:12baby anymore now you have to put it into

39:14words now you have to use language

39:17and that is effectively a prohibition

39:21the child's introduction into language

39:23functions the same way

39:26as the birth of the law

39:29the tablets that moses brought down

39:34were also structured on a logic of

39:36prohibition

39:38thou shalt not

39:40covet thy neighbor's barrel of water or

39:44whatever the hell is on the ten

39:45commandments who knows what the hell is

39:46on the ten commandments but no

39:49the structure is one of prohibition and

39:50that's why he connects law and desire

39:52xingua we're going to talk about

39:54that okay but isn't the desire supposed

39:57to be transgressive of the law so the

40:00desire is the negative of the law

40:02no

40:03oh it's not it's actually the same thing

40:07no no you spent too much time reading to

40:09lose

40:10desire

40:14desire is not transgressive

40:16and it's obedience then

40:21no

40:22oh i guess in a kind of way it could be

40:24obedience

40:26desire is a submission of sorts

40:28jewish

40:30is transgressive

40:31just posted

40:33wow yeah

40:34and jewish science you call the graph of

40:36desire

40:37can be accessed a couple of different

40:39ways but one is from not desire but the

40:42drive

40:44in the upper right hand quadrant of the

40:46graph of desire

40:48is the split subject in relation to big

40:52d

40:52the demand of the other that's lukan's

40:55math theme for the drive

40:57so what we've done so far here is we've

40:59talked about need

41:00demand or getting desire there's a

41:04fourth level

41:05beyond desire

41:07that

41:09my friend bruce fink puts as a

41:12traversing of one's fundamental fantasy

41:15something beyond desire

41:18and we call that the drive

41:20the drive gives us access to something

41:23that desire can't something more

41:24transgressive

41:26namely sons in the field of castration

41:31as we laughs into

41:34thank you thank you so much

41:36yeah yeah so so don't don't worry and

41:38this is partly this is partly what what

41:40deleuze and guattari are doing

41:43in capitalism and schizophrenia is they

41:45really want to unbridle

41:48desire from the law

41:50and they want desire to be this um

41:53unruly

41:54endless interminable enterprise

41:57and that's just not how lacan conceives

42:00of it wow

42:02so i mean if you if if you all are

42:04really down and you're like yo i've been

42:05wanting to read to losing guatari for

42:07years um

42:09holler at me we'll set something up

42:11absolutely but that's where you would

42:13get theories of desire that would be a

42:15little more transgressive

42:18um that's a post-lacanian term that i

42:20don't particularly agree with

42:22but

42:23it's infinitely smart don't forget too

42:26that guattari in many ways was competing

42:28for lecon's job

42:31okay so

42:33let's talk more than about this graph

42:35i'm gonna go to screen share one more

42:37time just so i can put up

42:40a really sophisticated math problem for

42:42you are you all back can you all see

42:44this colorful thing again

42:47yeah

42:48okay

42:49so you'll recall what i told you last

42:51time one way that we were able to get at

42:53desire

42:57desire

42:58equals

43:02demand

43:03minus

43:05need

43:07desire is what's left of demand after

43:10need has been met and the way i

43:12described that to you last time was a

43:15crying child

43:16you show up with a blanket

43:18the blanket warms the child

43:21but something is left

43:23because you didn't just bring the child

43:24the blanket when you showed up you also

43:27brought them care you showed them love

43:30you showed them in particular

43:32what it means to love someone like them

43:37what's left of demand after need has

43:39been met

43:42is an insatiable demand for love and

43:46care

43:50and this brings us to our first passage

43:52from the book

43:54pages 64 to 65.

44:00so if you go there with me

44:04let's look at it

44:05together

44:0764-65

44:08bottom of page 64.

44:14will somebody read starting with the

44:16existence of anxiety

44:21anybody at all

44:23i'll read it

44:25the existence of anxiety is linked to

44:27the fact

44:28that any demand

44:30even the most archaic

44:32always has something illusory about it

44:36with respect to what preserves the place

44:38of desire

44:40this is also what explains the

44:42anguishing side of anything that gives a

44:45response to this false demand

44:48in such a way as to feel in it

44:52okay let's pause right there thank you

44:53desiree so

44:55demands are not meant to be filled in

44:58demands are meant to be partially

45:00satisfied

45:02partially satisfied because the

45:04need-based component of demand

45:07is the blanket

45:09is the feeling of chill that the blanket

45:11addresses it's the biomaterial side of

45:13demand

45:14that part of demand

45:16fill it in all you want baby that's the

45:18good stuff

45:19but there's this other part of demand

45:23that according to lacan

45:25woe unto the primary caregiver who tries

45:29to fill in that part of demand

45:32woe onto the primary caregiver who

45:34believes that the blanket and only the

45:37blanket is the full extent of the

45:39child's demand

45:40so that's what we're getting at here

45:42there's a danger in trying to fill in

45:46the demand

45:48whether that's by trying to love the

45:51child fully

45:53or more often

45:56trying instead to think that it was just

45:58a matter of a blanket

46:00and so a good example of this which is

46:02actually a pretty poor example of

46:04parenting in my view

46:05is the parent who goes to the child when

46:08the child says daddy i'm hungry

46:10and the ch and the dad says the food is

46:13on the table

46:14what more do you want from me

46:17if you're hung when you're hungry enough

46:18you'll eat what's in front of you

46:21and then then the dad might cave and say

46:24okay okay this this dinner is no good

46:26for you i got it it's too spicy or

46:27whatever what would you like instead

46:30the child's like i don't know

46:32the dad's like okay well what can we do

46:33here we've got some chicken nuggets

46:35we've got sandwich we've got macaroni

46:38and cheese and the child says no no

46:41no no

46:43none of those things

46:45the child says can satisfy their need

46:48because in this case

46:50the child has confused their demand for

46:52love

46:54with their need for sustenance

46:56and that's the game the kid is playing

46:58here even though they don't know it

47:00the reason why no food is good enough

47:03for the child is because what they're

47:05actually demanding

47:08is a dad who doesn't treat him like [ __ ]

47:10but instead cares for them in a loving

47:12fashion

47:13i don't want food i want love

47:17and you can see this in adulthood too

47:19money can't buy me love

47:22i don't want your money stop buying me

47:24presents stop bringing me stuff that's

47:27not what this is about

47:30you can't just show up once a week with

47:33flowers and pretend like we have a good

47:35relationship

47:37love and care means being there in and

47:40out on a daily basis and so on and so

47:43forth

47:44see what i mean

47:46you can't equate a taking of somebody

47:49out to dinner as an expression of love

47:52love doesn't work that way

47:54okay so desiree will you continue

47:56reading on to the next paragraph

48:02at the bottom of 64.

48:04i saw this arise

48:07not so long ago

48:09in what one of my patients said a

48:11patient whose mother had never left him

48:13so much as an inch

48:15up in a certain age

48:18could it be put any better

48:21she only ever gave a false response to

48:23his demand a response that really fell

48:27wide of the mark because

48:29if demand was actually structured by the

48:32signifier

48:34then it's not to be taken literally

48:37what the child asks of his mother is

48:40designed to structure

48:42the present absence relation for him

48:46as is demonstrated by the originals

48:49for the game

48:51which is a first exercise and mastery

48:55okay

48:56if you don't mind again i'm sorry to

48:58interrupt um but there's so much here

49:01that if we read any further

49:03my brain is going to explode okay so let

49:06me just slow down here for a second and

49:07see if i can catch up here

49:09so demand is structured by the signifier

49:13lacan says that

49:15three lines up from the bottom of 64.

49:17because we know that demand is need

49:19expressed in language it's structured by

49:21the signifier because the primary

49:23caregiver

49:24uses their understanding of let's say

49:27children

49:28their knowledge of it their inventory of

49:31all possible ways of treating a kid

49:35to answer the child's cry

49:38that's a

49:39signification move

49:41that's a move of interpretation where

49:44a world of meaning is brought to bear

49:47on a pre-linguistic

49:50pre-meaning

49:51expression of need so that's why demand

49:54is structured by the signifier as we've

49:56discussed and you can see it in the

49:57diagram in front of you

49:59but that's also why it can't be taken

50:02literally so lacan's being playful here

50:04xinhua he's messing around

50:07it can't be taken literally

50:10which is to say that if you hear demand

50:13a demand for a blanket even if the child

50:16has words and says please bring me the

50:17blanket

50:18you can't take it literally

50:21which means you can't think that that's

50:23all the child is asking for

50:26every demand in other words is

50:28figurative in the sense that it always

50:31exceeds the expression of need

50:34because need is pre-linguistic and

50:36demand occurs in language so there's

50:38something more than need that occurs

50:40here

50:41so the because demand is structured by

50:43language it can't be taken literally

50:48is lacan's point here

50:51so when the child asks his mother

50:54what the child asks his mother is

50:56designate is designed to structure the

50:58presence absence relation for him as

51:01demonstrated through the originative

51:02fort dog game

51:03do you all remember and know what he's

51:05talking about with this fort dog game

51:06business

51:08where's this coming from

51:14do you all remember this remember

51:16freud's weird grandson ernst

51:20whose mom keeps like freight is like

51:22such a curmudgeon man so this is from

51:24beyond the pleasure principle and

51:26freud's daughter keeps showing up

51:28bringing the grandson dropping him off

51:31and then dipping

51:32and freud is like what the [ __ ] what am

51:34i your babysitter i mean he's not like

51:36that you know what i'm saying but he's

51:38definitely aware of the fact and wishes

51:40in the book even that the mom was a

51:42little more present

51:44now what happens

51:46what does ernst do when mom drops him

51:49off

51:52do you remember this

51:56so the deal here is ernst is in a crib

51:58okay and this is before you had like you

52:01know cribs now they're basically like

52:03cages

52:04all designed just to keep kids from

52:06suffocating in the old days when it was

52:08like super cold a crib would like have a

52:11cloth lining going all the way around it

52:16hi i'm back okay so there'll be like a

52:18cloth lining that would go all the way

52:20around the crib

52:22what was the word for this

52:24there's a word for this i forget what

52:25the 19th century called this thing

52:28well the problem was that babies were

52:30rolling over with their limited motor

52:32skills and suffocating right we still

52:34don't know the origin of sids but one of

52:36the things people suggest is it's a

52:38suffocation issue

52:41[ __ ] what

52:42bumper

52:43yes i think it is called a bumper or a

52:45bunter or something like this there's a

52:46big debate about it

52:49yes

52:50so here's the deal the kid gets dropped

52:52into a cage that has a blanket wrapped

52:54all around it so he can't see fully

52:56outside the cage but he has a toy in

52:58there it's a spool tied to a string

53:02now this is the kind of thing

53:04that an old victorian arab baby might

53:07pull around behind them i suppose a

53:09toddler instead pull around behind them

53:11and pretend like it's a wagon

53:13and they're the horse pulling the string

53:15the little spool's the wagon that's not

53:17what ernst does with it when his mom

53:18drops him off

53:20ernst instead takes the spool with the

53:22string attached to it holds the string

53:25in one hand and throws the spool out of

53:28his crib beyond his eyesight

53:31so that the spool falls onto the

53:33exterior wall of the crib

53:35and when he does that

53:37he makes a noise that freud interprets

53:40as

53:41fort

53:42which is the german word for away

53:45and then

53:47in a moment of pure delight

53:50ernst pulls the string until the spool

53:53pops back up over the wall of the crib

53:56and lands inside

53:57at which point he picks it up brings it

54:00to him and in freud's interpretation as

54:02the primary caregiver

54:04he hears the child saying da

54:07which for those of you who read

54:09heidegger

54:11know as the basis for the word dozy

54:14which means here and there but in this

54:16case it means here

54:19most people think that dozen is more

54:20about being the sign part and it's not

54:23it's about the da part

54:27here there and like so what freud says

54:31here in this primitive game of fort dah

54:35is that the child is mastering at the

54:38level of a game

54:39what it can't control

54:42in the field of its own lived experience

54:45namely the coming and going of the mom

54:48so the reason why ernst is able to

54:50withstand his mom's comings and goings

54:53is because he substitutes this spool for

54:57her the spool is a signifier for her

55:02he knows he can't determine when she's

55:05going to drop him off and when she's

55:06going to return but when he's got that

55:08spool and a string he's the master

55:11he can control the coming and the going

55:14of this thing

55:16and this is what gets him through it

55:19now that's what freud does with fort da

55:22what lacan is doing with it here

55:25is something even more profound

55:28the child asks his mother

55:31at the level of demand is to structure

55:33the presence absence relation for him

55:37what lacan is here getting at is

55:41if you try and fill in demand if you

55:43take it literally as a request for food

55:47or a blanket or whatever the kid says

55:49you've missed what the child is

55:52also calling for

55:54which is you

55:56your care your affection your attention

56:00the child isn't just saying bring me a

56:02blanket it's saying bring me your love

56:05bring me yourself

56:08give me some of your time give me your

56:11attention

56:12so the parent who tries to assume

56:15that the kid asks for a blanket and

56:17that's all there is to it you've seen

56:19this example

56:20the kid asks for something the parent

56:22gives it to him the kid's still crying

56:24and the parent says what the hell is

56:25wrong with you i just brought you what

56:27you wanted why are you still upset you

56:29told me this is what you wanted i

56:30brought it to you why are you still

56:32upset

56:35because that's not actually what the

56:36child is demanding or at least not only

56:39what the child is demanding

56:42desire is what's left

56:45of the demand for a blanket

56:47after the blanket has been given

56:50and in this case it is the demand for

56:53love

56:55and not just once

56:57but repeated

56:59acts of love

57:02from the primary caregiver

57:05and that's the presence absence part

57:09come here i want you

57:12is what the child always says when they

57:14issue a demand whether it's for a

57:15blanket or food or anything

57:18but the thing is you can't just do that

57:20once

57:21and expect the child to feel held

57:24contained and supported

57:27which is why

57:29being a good parent

57:31means keeping it 300. you know what i

57:34mean when i say keep it 300.

57:38cool

57:39calm

57:40collected

57:42300 because c for century

57:45equals a hundred three c's cool column

57:47collected

57:49all of which if you add them up i would

57:50say suggest one thing

57:52good parenting involves consistency

57:57you can't just love a kid once and

57:59expect them to feel it in their bones

58:02just like you can't

58:04learn a lesson once and pretend like

58:06you're not going to make the same

58:07mistake again

58:10i once asked a therapist

58:12how long would it take to deprogram my

58:15dumb ass

58:16and the therapist said

58:18you have to do

58:20differently as many times as you did

58:24that created you were dumb ass in the

58:26first place now he didn't say dumbass he

58:27was much kinder than that but his

58:29response was if you really want to undo

58:32a habit you have to act differently just

58:34as many times as you did to create the

58:36habit in the first place

58:38and i was like great

58:40so basically i'm halfway through my life

58:41now and i'm not going to be done with

58:43this [ __ ] until i'm dead

58:45and he was like yes thank you that'll be

58:4815 for your copay

58:51it was a liberating moment

58:53but i'm also 15

58:54shy here

58:56so

58:57the point here is that

58:59a good parent is one who doesn't just

59:01bring the blanket once but brings it

59:04every time consistently

59:07that is how demand can be met but it

59:09does this by

59:11negotiating presence and absence

59:13presence is i'm there here's the blanket

59:16but i'm not gonna smother you

59:18now you've got your blanket i'ma let you

59:20get back to it

59:21call me if you need anything

59:24so just a quick example from last night

59:27so my daughter's seven and she's

59:29learning to use

59:30conditioner just kind of like like long

59:33thick hair and man it is a pain in the

59:36ass to brush this hair

59:38after she gets out of the shower it's

59:40just a pain i gotta like brush it in

59:42little segments i'm gonna brush it all

59:44the way up all over the top but with

59:45conditioner

59:47it's a game changer but she doesn't know

59:49how to apply it yet

59:51so we go in

59:52i get her set with a shower i get the

59:54temperature right i get her washcloth

59:56out i get her shampoo out i get her body

59:59soap out it's all right there i said you

1:00:01got everything you need yep okay call me

1:00:03if you need me and then i close the door

1:00:05and i leave

1:00:06and let me tell you what happens

1:00:09first i go

1:00:10and get a whiskey then i sit down no i

1:00:13don't get a whiskey but sometimes and

1:00:15then i go and sit on the couch and as

1:00:16soon as my ass hits the couch she says

1:00:19daddy

1:00:22and i'm back up again

1:00:24in the bathroom i'm ready for a

1:00:26conditioner and then i and then i help

1:00:28her condition her hair and i said okay

1:00:30you're ready now you're going to wash

1:00:31your body right and we go through all

1:00:33the parts that need to be washed because

1:00:35she'll pretend like she's washing her

1:00:36body but she doesn't do the job

1:00:38so we get down to all the parts that

1:00:39need to be washed anatomically correct

1:00:42she's down to it

1:00:44and i say okay

1:00:45you all set yep all set i leave and i

1:00:48close the door

1:00:50and then i go get another whiskey i'm

1:00:51just kidding about the whiskey part but

1:00:53as soon as my ass hits the couch daddy

1:00:56i'm done

1:00:57at which point my job is to go and get a

1:01:00towel off the rack

1:01:02and get her wrapped up

1:01:04hear whatever weird ass story she has

1:01:06about whatever she was thinking about or

1:01:08what she's been writing on the shower

1:01:10wall or something like this

1:01:12and get her dried off

1:01:14because otherwise she won't dry off

1:01:16she'll wrap herself in a towel and then

1:01:18go get in her pajamas wet

1:01:20so we have to like practice like drying

1:01:23off and all this stuff and then she gets

1:01:25in her jammies and the night continues

1:01:28just like this

1:01:29call and response

1:01:32the call says come here i want you

1:01:35and the response is i am now present

1:01:39and then i leave her again and then i

1:01:41come back

1:01:44i'm the spool on the string

1:01:47i'm the spool she doesn't need because

1:01:49she has me instead

1:01:53this is what lacan means about demand

1:01:56and desire it doesn't mean the child

1:01:58doesn't experience desire

1:02:01it just means that

1:02:03i have yet to slip into

1:02:06the misinterpretation of demand as need

1:02:10there's always something more

1:02:14and like a good desire that something

1:02:16more is a repetitive

1:02:18request

1:02:20you see

1:02:24desire is a wheel because it's

1:02:26repetitive

1:02:28it's not a petitive it's repetitive

1:02:34i'll read the rest of this paragraph at

1:02:35the top of 65.

1:02:38a certain void is always to be preserved

1:02:42and by void he means lack

1:02:44a part of demand that hasn't been met

1:02:47which has nothing to do with the content

1:02:49here the content is the blanket

1:02:52or the shampoo or the conditioner or

1:02:53whatever the kid calls for neither

1:02:55positive nor negative of demand

1:02:58the disruption where an anxiety is

1:03:00evinced arises when this void is totally

1:03:02filled in

1:03:04so

1:03:06here's how that would work

1:03:09instead of leaving her in the bathroom

1:03:11and closing the door

1:03:14i take off all my clothes and get in the

1:03:15shower with her

1:03:18or i just sit on the toilet

1:03:20and wait for her

1:03:21in other words i don't give her that

1:03:23space

1:03:25in those moments when i'm not in the

1:03:27bathroom with her

1:03:28she is having a wild complete

1:03:32frank zappa-esque freak out

1:03:35she is in her moment she's singing songs

1:03:38last night it was

1:03:39don't nobody want to talk about bruno or

1:03:41something about bruno what's up with the

1:03:43damn bruno man she's all over this song

1:03:45about bruno she would not have done that

1:03:47if i were there

1:03:48you know why

1:03:50because she would have been in the

1:03:51shower wondering what the hell i'm doing

1:03:53in there

1:03:54wondering

1:03:55if i'm okay with how she's doing it

1:03:58if i don't leave her alone with the

1:04:00washcloth in other words

1:04:02and let her wash her own body she's

1:04:04gonna wash her body and think am i doing

1:04:06it right

1:04:09am i doing it the way that daddy would

1:04:11want me to

1:04:12that is anxiety

1:04:15that is childhood anxiety according to

1:04:17lacan because she is living her life in

1:04:20relationship

1:04:23to what she perceives to be not my

1:04:25desire but my demand of her

1:04:28see i can issue a demand of my own

1:04:33which is exactly what god does

1:04:35in ecclesiastes when he says enjoy

1:04:38enjoy your wife enjoy your food your

1:04:41life sucks and it's almost over so enjoy

1:04:44this is what ecclesiastes is all about

1:04:46that's why lecon queues it up

1:04:49parents big others god is the big other

1:04:52omniscient

1:04:54omnipotent

1:04:55can issue demands of their own

1:04:59now this may seem

1:05:01tricky

1:05:03but i don't believe that it is and one

1:05:05of our goals tonight is to really work

1:05:07this out

1:05:09demand can relapse into anxiety

1:05:14and what i'm showing you is a basic way

1:05:16that if i were to be in the bathroom

1:05:19the child would never experience the

1:05:21absence needed to be themselves

1:05:25all the while knowing that i'm ready and

1:05:27within within a shouts distance

1:05:30that's an important part here too

1:05:32if every time i left and closed the door

1:05:35she thought maybe i was just gonna grab

1:05:36my car keys and dip

1:05:38she would also experience anxiety

1:05:41so it's not about the proximal presence

1:05:44of the other

1:05:46it's about the child's perception of the

1:05:49other as desirous or not

1:05:52lacking or not consistent or

1:05:55inconsistent

1:05:56that's why i mentioned keeping it three

1:05:58hundred

1:06:01our algebra furnishes us with a

1:06:03ready-made instrument with which we may

1:06:05clearly see the consequences of this

1:06:08demand comes unduly to the place of what

1:06:12is spirited away a the object

1:06:16if you try and fill in demand you will

1:06:18spirit away

1:06:20the object cause of the child's own

1:06:22desire their own creativity

1:06:26and in its place

1:06:28your own desire will instill anxiety in

1:06:31them

1:06:32that's what's happening on 64 and 65.

1:06:37now last time

1:06:39we also did a lot of work with desire

1:06:42for

1:06:43desire of and desire as that was another

1:06:46way that i tried to introduce you to

1:06:48this notion of desire

1:06:50now i don't want to reinvent the wheel

1:06:53if you all feel pretty good about that

1:07:01okay any questions about desire4 of or

1:07:04as

1:07:06and for anybody who missed last time if

1:07:08you don't yet have access to a recording

1:07:10of the lecture for whatever reason

1:07:12holler at me and i'll gladly set you up

1:07:15with it okay

1:07:18hey sam can i ask you like just a quick

1:07:21question on what you just went over with

1:07:23with the demand stuff yes please

1:07:25um

1:07:26in a sort of simplified form it'd be

1:07:29like too simple to say that anxieties

1:07:32sort of becomes this preoccupation with

1:07:34what the other demands

1:07:37or is it demand they're not the right

1:07:38word

1:07:41i don't think the demand is the right

1:07:42word there but i really like your use of

1:07:44preoccupation

1:07:46the reason why i say i don't think

1:07:48demand is the right word there is that

1:07:50one of the things the neurotic does

1:07:53when confronted with the desire of the

1:07:55other as we're going to see tonight

1:07:58is to say listen

1:08:00i don't

1:08:01know what you want but i bet you do so

1:08:04why don't you just tell me

1:08:06so if you recall the praying mantis

1:08:07example the start of this seminar the

1:08:10reason why it inspires anxiety is

1:08:12because you don't know what the praying

1:08:14mantis wants from you in particular

1:08:17but you suspect

1:08:19it's something wrong

1:08:21but you don't know

1:08:23to take

1:08:24that experience of the others

1:08:26desirousness and its enigmatic quality

1:08:30and funnel it through demand

1:08:33is a completely neurotic move

1:08:35not a bad one it's a great attempt by

1:08:37the neurotic to stave off anxiety by

1:08:40telling the other simply listen i know

1:08:43that you as the other know what you want

1:08:46so why you just tell it to me so i can

1:08:48give it to you

1:08:50that attempt to funnel the desire of the

1:08:54other into a demand that the other can

1:08:57issue me

1:09:01provokes its own kind of anxiety

1:09:04in fact i would suggest that it invites

1:09:06the big other

1:09:08to operate sadistically as we see on

1:09:10page 104

1:09:12of the seminar

1:09:14it invites the big other to say

1:09:16not just enjoy exclamation point but and

1:09:20here's how

1:09:22enjoy your wife

1:09:24ecclesiastes says enjoy your work

1:09:27enjoy your food

1:09:30enjoy your drink

1:09:32god issues the demand and then details

1:09:36it

1:09:38and that's a scary place to be

1:09:41because as we'll see

1:09:43as we dig into seminar 10

1:09:46when demand

1:09:48finally bumps up against the wall in

1:09:51other words when there's no more demand

1:09:53that the big other can give you

1:09:57the only thing left

1:09:59is for them to demand

1:10:01a sign of your castration

1:10:06we'll see that

1:10:07it's in the book don't worry we're going

1:10:08to read the passage tonight

1:10:10so i love the question about demand and

1:10:13that's the reason why i said earlier

1:10:14that it's kind of tricky

1:10:16because on the one hand

1:10:18funneling the desire of the big other

1:10:20through a logic of demand looks like a

1:10:22way to escape anxiety and i'll show you

1:10:24why in a little while

1:10:27but what it actually does is just

1:10:29postpone the inevitable

1:10:32which is that eventually demand runs out

1:10:35of steam

1:10:37and the only thing left for the big

1:10:38other to demand of you

1:10:40is a sign of your own

1:10:43lack

1:10:44your own castration

1:10:47which so it's not coincidental that

1:10:49circumcision also comes up here

1:10:54i told you about peter griffin's tagline

1:10:58from family guy

1:10:59shape up or show me your balls

1:11:02it's a totally ridiculous line

1:11:06here it would be shape up and show me

1:11:08your balls

1:11:12but we were talking about

1:11:14desire

1:11:18how are we so far

1:11:24okay i'm going to skip then desire 4 of

1:11:26an as

1:11:27you can check that out in the first

1:11:29round of lectures

1:11:32i want to instead get back to this use

1:11:35your words

1:11:37model that we discussed

1:11:40this moment has several names in lacan's

1:11:43work

1:11:45and they're all

1:11:46mixed up and modeled and confused i'm

1:11:48going to clarify

1:11:50as directly as i can

1:11:53the paternal function

1:11:56is prohibition

1:12:00it is that no

1:12:04it's oftentimes described as the unary

1:12:06trait

1:12:08it is also the name of the father

1:12:11which don't forget in french sounds a

1:12:13lot like the norm of the father the know

1:12:15of the father

1:12:17another word for this is castration

1:12:21another word for this process is

1:12:23alienation

1:12:24the example we have of this is use your

1:12:27own words

1:12:29when the primary character tells the

1:12:32child to use their own words they are

1:12:34issuing a prohibition

1:12:37it's a prohibition

1:12:40against living life

1:12:44any longer

1:12:47without

1:12:49the intervention of language

1:12:52now the way that we drew this out last

1:12:55time

1:12:56what i'm going to do here is i'm going

1:12:57to save

1:12:59the screen we were just working with

1:13:06thank you all for bearing with me here

1:13:12and then i'm going to erase this one and

1:13:14show you very quickly the model that we

1:13:16were working with last time

1:13:34okay the one we were toying with was

1:13:36this pre-editable triangle

1:13:42where you had this maternal function

1:13:47emphasis again on this being a function

1:13:49and this being a subject position

1:13:51mother furlacan is not anatomical in any

1:13:54way

1:13:55it's a function it's a subject position

1:13:58and then down here you have the child

1:14:04the child has desire for the mother for

1:14:06the mother's care

1:14:08for the mother's affection not just her

1:14:10blankets

1:14:11but notices that the mother

1:14:14whoever plays it

1:14:16has something else that they're

1:14:18interested in

1:14:19this fee up here

1:14:21is called the imaginary phallus

1:14:24it's whatever the child sees the mother

1:14:27figure also being interested in

1:14:30it can be the car keys that symbolize

1:14:32her leaving for work

1:14:34it can be the phone that she smiles at

1:14:39in ways that don't involve the child

1:14:41and so what the child learns to do is

1:14:45identify with this thing

1:14:46whether it's grabbing the car keys and

1:14:48putting him in the diaper grabbing the

1:14:50phone and running off with it or hiding

1:14:51it thinking that if i can approximate

1:14:55what else mother is into

1:14:57i will eventually get

1:15:00her attention it's this roundabout way

1:15:03of the child hoping

1:15:05that they can be the imaginary object

1:15:09that satisfies

1:15:11maternal desire

1:15:19are you all with me so far

1:15:24please give me a yes because i can't see

1:15:26you

1:15:27yes

1:15:28thank you okay

1:15:30now along comes this paternal function

1:15:34this is all reviewed by the way so it's

1:15:35in your notes it's also in the lectures

1:15:37but we're going to add to it

1:15:39in a traditional lacanian way

1:15:41here we have the name of the father

1:15:50i wouldn't get caught up in it because

1:15:52the key word here is

1:15:54no

1:15:56this is prohibition this is alienation

1:15:59and the like and what it does is it

1:16:01effectively cuts in

1:16:04to this imaginary

1:16:07triangle

1:16:10and says

1:16:12you

1:16:13child

1:16:17cannot be

1:16:18the phallus for her

1:16:21or him if it's a him it doesn't matter

1:16:23and you maternal figure don't have one

1:16:27so again here's that emphasis

1:16:30the maternal figure does not have the

1:16:33phallus

1:16:34and the child can't be it for the

1:16:37maternal figure

1:16:41now the phallus here

1:16:43can be any object of desire

1:16:47it can be the phone it can be the car

1:16:49keys the imaginary phallus is whatever

1:16:51you think somebody else is into

1:16:54so if you think that i like jazz music

1:16:58you might imagine all the different

1:17:00types of things that come with jazz

1:17:02music

1:17:03and that would be something that you

1:17:04might think i'm into

1:17:06those are all imaginary

1:17:08objects

1:17:10each would be a phallus that you are

1:17:12imagining that you think i want

1:17:15this is how desire operates

1:17:17what happens though

1:17:19when the paternal figure shows up

1:17:23usually

1:17:25i would add by invocation by the

1:17:27maternal figure who would say something

1:17:29like

1:17:31just wait until your mother gets home

1:17:33and purposefully scrambling that so it's

1:17:35not so heteronormative right or

1:17:38if baby jesus knew what you were just

1:17:40doing think how proud he would be it's

1:17:43usually the maternal figure that invokes

1:17:45the paternal function that's also why

1:17:48lacan plays with the name of the father

1:17:51it's not daddy that shows up

1:17:53it's the name of the father typically as

1:17:56invoked by the maternal figure

1:18:00let's say the father figure is dead and

1:18:03the maternal figure says oh my gosh

1:18:06if your father figure could see you now

1:18:09think how ashamed he would be or proud

1:18:11or whatever the case may be

1:18:14the most important thing here

1:18:16is what's happening inside this yellow

1:18:19box

1:18:20this parens

1:18:24negative fee

1:18:29is a lack

1:18:30it's in parentheses because you can't

1:18:32see it

1:18:36something that used to be here

1:18:40something that used to be here is now

1:18:43gone

1:18:47it's a blank

1:18:50it's a void

1:18:52it's a lack

1:18:56in the child's experience

1:18:59it is also a gap

1:19:05a cut

1:19:09and a barrier

1:19:16that allows the child some breathing

1:19:19room between themselves

1:19:23and the desire of the maternal figure

1:19:33lacan in this momentous 10th seminar

1:19:36introduces a single letter

1:19:39to capture

1:19:40this gap or cut or barrier that allows

1:19:44the child to have some breathing room

1:19:46between them and the maternal's desire

1:19:50which is voracious

1:19:55this is

1:19:58the mantis

1:20:02this is the praying mantis the maternal

1:20:05figure is the praying mantis

1:20:07and the job of the paternal figure is to

1:20:10impose some distance

1:20:12barrier or protection

1:20:17allowing some breathing room between the

1:20:19child and whoever performs as their

1:20:22maternal figure

1:20:24and he represents this with a single

1:20:26letter a

1:20:29a

1:20:31little object a is the minimum distance

1:20:34required

1:20:36for the child to experience a little bit

1:20:38of breathing room between themselves and

1:20:40the maternal figure

1:20:42that is what little a means

1:20:44here and in that gap around that gap

1:20:50the child develops

1:20:54desire

1:21:00now listen

1:21:02anxiety is what happens

1:21:07whenever that gap

1:21:10is incidentally filled or made to be

1:21:13full

1:21:14if something appears in here

1:21:23some of you know

1:21:24danish is one of my jams

1:21:26this though i mean is just a zero

1:21:30the number zero

1:21:32which is a signifier of nothing which is

1:21:34not the same as a blind spot

1:21:38zero is a signifier that fills the gap

1:21:41that was previously there as the

1:21:43scribbled out yellow here

1:21:46in other words it's a signal or a

1:21:49signifier

1:21:51of the others desirousness

1:21:54if something pops up in this gap after

1:21:57the paternal function has done its thing

1:22:00the result

1:22:02is not desire

1:22:05but its antipode

1:22:09anxiety

1:22:18i hope that's clear

1:22:21this is the advancement that we're

1:22:23bringing to last

1:22:24our last graph of this element

1:22:27anxiety is what happens when a space

1:22:30that was should have been left blank

1:22:32and open and bottomless in order to

1:22:35cultivate desire

1:22:38has now been filled

1:22:41and filled with a

1:22:43signifier

1:22:44of the big others desire

1:22:48which is what i which is why i write

1:22:49capital s and then with the bard a in

1:22:52parens

1:22:54whenever the big other issues a signal

1:22:56of their desirousness the same way that

1:22:59horny praying mantis

1:23:02appears on the branch before you at the

1:23:04opening part of seminar 10.

1:23:07the result is not your desire

1:23:10but instead your anxiety

1:23:14i'll take this one step further at the

1:23:16risk of confusion

1:23:21when lacan says that anxiety

1:23:24means that lack is lacking

1:23:26what he means is that that cut or that

1:23:29gap that is little a

1:23:31has been taken from you

1:23:33and something else has appeared in its

1:23:35place

1:23:38i'd like to suggest that what appears in

1:23:40its place

1:23:44is the child themselves

1:23:47what the big other says is

1:23:50you

1:23:52as a split

1:23:53castrated subject

1:23:56are the object of my desire

1:23:58you're

1:23:59what i

1:24:00want which is why i say that demand

1:24:04always runs out of steam

1:24:06and in its final flourish

1:24:09is a demand for your own castration

1:24:12show me

1:24:18your split subjectivity the big other

1:24:20says

1:24:22that is a moment of anxiety

1:24:25when the gap that would have

1:24:27cultivated your desire

1:24:30has now been filled

1:24:32by the big others desire for your

1:24:36gap

1:24:47so if you check out page 25 really quick

1:24:49just to blast back

1:24:52i want to prove to you that i'm not just

1:24:54making all this [ __ ] up

1:24:58you look at page 25 and the fourth

1:24:59formula

1:25:02do you see the first line of the fourth

1:25:03formula on 25

1:25:05little d and then a zero

1:25:08is less than zero colon little d of the

1:25:11bard other

1:25:13color me if you see that

1:25:17yeah

1:25:18okay

1:25:19on the left

1:25:21of that less than sign

1:25:24is the split subject

1:25:28on the right of that

1:25:30less than sign is the big other

1:25:34this formula lacan says

1:25:37is the truth of anxiety

1:25:40but you'll notice

1:25:42the last paragraph of section 2 on page

1:25:4425

1:25:45that o

1:25:47there in the formula it's not an o but a

1:25:51zero

1:25:54it's the truth of anxiety it's a zero

1:25:58which is why i write a zero here

1:26:02as the signifier that appears

1:26:08minus fee as lack gap cut used to be

1:26:14that zero is a signifier

1:26:17of the other's desire

1:26:20the way we read this formula here if you

1:26:22want to push it

1:26:24is the zero on the right hand side of

1:26:27the less than sign is actually fantasy

1:26:30now we know that fantasy is always on

1:26:32the side of the big other

1:26:34but here it's not fantasy but instead

1:26:38something that has come in to replace it

1:26:42which is a signifier of the lack in the

1:26:44other

1:26:46if you've got the graph of desire in

1:26:48front of you and you can get it pretty

1:26:50quickly if you turn to page four

1:26:53this would be the right turn

1:26:55out of fantasy

1:26:57as split subject in relation to little a

1:26:59up into a signifier of the borrowed

1:27:01other that's what's happening here that

1:27:04little right turn there is the moment of

1:27:06anxiety

1:27:08for the neurotic

1:27:10but also as we're going to discuss a

1:27:11moment of joy sense for the pervert

1:27:14really that's what's at stake here i

1:27:16think is understanding perversion as

1:27:17much as the anxious experience of a

1:27:20neurotic

1:27:24usually though what you would have is

1:27:26fantasy and desire as a gap

1:27:30and defense against the desirousness of

1:27:33a big other but that's not what happens

1:27:34here

1:27:37anxiety is what happens

1:27:39when the fantastical prop of desire

1:27:43fantasy

1:27:44and thus object completely fail

1:27:48lack is taken from you

1:27:50resulting in this lack of lack we've

1:27:52been talking about

1:27:53and as a result you feel overwhelmed

1:27:56inescapably enveloped by the presence of

1:28:00some desirous big other

1:28:04and anxiety is what proliferates

1:28:08now this is

1:28:10about the end of the review

1:28:12we've got some big advances here too but

1:28:14a lot of this is stuff

1:28:16here i am on page four

1:28:18even though we've read 100 pages since

1:28:20then

1:28:23so i want to pause for a minute

1:28:26it's 7 30 we've been at it for an hour

1:28:28and a half

1:28:30you want to take 10 and then come back

1:28:32with questions

1:28:35or take five

1:28:37all right let's take 10. take 10 come

1:28:39back here at let's just call it 740 okay

1:28:43i'll see you back at 7.

1:29:14hey sam you're still screen sharing and

1:29:16i could see your email

1:29:27thanks i totally appreciate that

1:37:26all right my clock says 740.

1:37:37hi maddie how's it going

1:37:42it's going good

1:37:43i had to take my cat to the vet today

1:37:45though because she lost all her hair and

1:37:47she looks like one of those naked

1:37:49cats

1:37:52what

1:37:53yeah how did she use all of her hair

1:37:55have you been shaving your cat again

1:37:58it's it's just a hobby of mine it's fine

1:38:01it's a very docile cat to allow it to be

1:38:04shaved

1:38:08say that again

1:38:09is your cat okay

1:38:11yeah she's okay she just had some sort

1:38:13of fungal infection i think it was like

1:38:14from a flea that she might have caught

1:38:16or something

1:38:18so they said the hair should grow back

1:38:19but she just looks gnarly

1:38:21like it's not even like all of the hair

1:38:23is gone evenly it's like she's got like

1:38:24little tufts of hair

1:38:26mercy

1:38:27if ever there's been a time to start an

1:38:29instagram page for your cat this is it

1:38:33you know what i'm saying by the time the

1:38:35hair grows by the fur grows back you're

1:38:37gonna have thousands of followers you're

1:38:40gonna have they're gonna be sending you

1:38:41cat food in the mail you're gonna have

1:38:44like sponsorship come on let's get real

1:38:46you know this is it this is the moment

1:38:47you've been waiting for

1:38:50instead of like being famous for how

1:38:51cute my cat is i'll be famous for how

1:38:53ugly she is

1:38:54hey you know fame and infamy are just

1:38:57very closely i mean speaking about an

1:38:59irreducible gap between two entities

1:39:02that allows them to remain distinct

1:39:05fame and infamy oftentimes don't doesn't

1:39:07have one

1:39:09are we all back now

1:39:12i have an announcement

1:39:14you guys know how much fun this is for

1:39:16me this is like the most fun

1:39:19i can imagine

1:39:20although actually i attended a talk

1:39:22today where someone was was talking

1:39:24about a new book that she published on

1:39:26dogs it was a totally wild zoom event i

1:39:30absolutely loved it it was super fun

1:39:33it's almost as fun as this this is so

1:39:36fun for me so thank you all again for

1:39:39making this possible

1:39:42i've been looking forward to this all

1:39:43day in fact around like 11 a.m i was

1:39:45like all right can it be six o'clock now

1:39:47like i'm ready i'm ready to do this

1:39:50so this is a great thrill

1:39:52um even though i know that uh

1:39:54that lacan is not easy

1:39:57but my goal here is to make his stuff as

1:40:00accessible and useful to you as possible

1:40:03some of you are training to be scholars

1:40:05some of you already are scholars

1:40:07some of you are clinicians some of you

1:40:09are training to be clinicians i want

1:40:11this stuff to be as useful to you as

1:40:13possible across the board

1:40:16so as you know i'm available via email

1:40:19i'm also available here in these forums

1:40:22to talk about whatever comes to mind if

1:40:24there's a concept that you're curious

1:40:26about you want to learn more about

1:40:27holler at me and i'll do whatever i can

1:40:29to help

1:40:30and in fact those of you whose projects

1:40:32i know a little bit about i couldn't

1:40:34help but find you in the margins of many

1:40:37of these pages

1:40:39so it's exciting it's super exciting to

1:40:41be here with you all tonight

1:40:43with that said

1:40:45let's get back to it

1:40:48so here's where we were

1:40:56with this um

1:40:58wild

1:40:59weird wonky four-part animal

1:41:02are you good to go with this or do you

1:41:04want to spend some more time

1:41:09are there other other questions that you

1:41:10have about anything that's up on this

1:41:12graph i'm happy to elaborate with

1:41:14examples i'm happy to do

1:41:16whatever i have a question go ahead

1:41:19maddie

1:41:20um i was curious about what happens when

1:41:22the there is no paternal function or

1:41:24there's very little

1:41:27yeah one of the things that can happen

1:41:30if there's no

1:41:31function

1:41:32is psychosis

1:41:35in fact psychosis one of lacan's

1:41:37motivating

1:41:39efforts

1:41:40throughout his career

1:41:43is to try and find

1:41:45the origin

1:41:46of psychosis this is one of the things

1:41:48that he was doing in his dissertation

1:41:50and that motivated him even past seminar

1:41:52three

1:41:53which is on the psychosis up through the

1:41:5670s he's still looking at the psychotic

1:41:59clinical structure and wondering how the

1:42:01hell does this happen

1:42:04here's what he comes up with as an

1:42:05answer

1:42:08he's building with freud he's working

1:42:09with freud's german here

1:42:11and it's a it's a kind of a stretch on

1:42:13what he's doing with freud but what he

1:42:14says is that there's a primordial

1:42:17symbolic moment

1:42:19that's the moment that i talk about as

1:42:21prohibition as the name of the father as

1:42:24the no

1:42:27now

1:42:28if that doesn't happen

1:42:30or if it happens

1:42:32and then you deny that it occurred

1:42:37a process that lecon terms foreclosure

1:42:40the result is psychosis

1:42:44which according to lacan is signaled by

1:42:46a series of ruptures in your

1:42:48relationship to the symbolic to language

1:42:52usually the psychotic can be determined

1:42:55according to lacan

1:42:57by different types of linguistic

1:43:00disturbances

1:43:01and the reason why their language is

1:43:03disturbed is because they have no

1:43:06fundamental root

1:43:08in language in the symbolic

1:43:10because they have foreclosed

1:43:13that paternal function

1:43:15that is the origin

1:43:17of psychosis according to the com

1:43:20that primordial process

1:43:22is what he describes as beijahung

1:43:26and what i'm going to do here is i'm

1:43:27going to share my screen again and write

1:43:29some of this stuff up here

1:43:31um just just so that you can see

1:43:34see how this uh would look so don't

1:43:36worry i've saved the diagram that we

1:43:38were just working with

1:43:39so we can now trash this thing and get a

1:43:41different one going

1:43:53let's go with

1:43:56this color

1:43:58so you have this primordial

1:44:00symbolization

1:44:01that lacan calls building on freud

1:44:10which unfortunately my this system is

1:44:13not quite fast enough to

1:44:15keep up with my handwriting

1:44:23this is in german it means affirmation

1:44:27what happens in primordial symbolization

1:44:29is that you accept the prohibitions

1:44:33that the paternal figure whoever that is

1:44:36brings into your life you accept that in

1:44:39order to have your needs met you have to

1:44:40use language you affirm that

1:44:44now in the case of psychosis

1:44:47something different happens

1:44:49you deny that process

1:44:51you insist in fact that it hasn't

1:44:54happened at all

1:44:55oh wait a minute hold up i have

1:44:57something even cooler to show you

1:45:01i may already have

1:45:04this as an image

1:45:07hold up y'all

1:45:11this will save us some work

1:45:17yes

1:45:18okay check this out here are the terms

1:45:20in german

1:45:22ready for your approval

1:45:24and perhaps negation

1:45:26so we can get rid of this

1:45:29the first term is ba yahoo

1:45:34can you all see this okay in pink

1:45:38yes

1:45:39yeah thank you

1:45:41okay

1:45:43so this beyahun here this is a primitive

1:45:46affirmation

1:45:48of language and acceptance of language

1:45:52and what you're accepting there

1:45:54fundamentally is the name of the father

1:45:57verveir fung i mean lacan's messing with

1:46:00a very weak it's a very weak reading of

1:46:02freud but this means foreclosure

1:46:10and it's what produces psychosis

1:46:13according to lacan

1:46:18and what the psychotic forecloses is

1:46:20this very primitive affirmation it's as

1:46:24simple as recognizing that language

1:46:26exists

1:46:28so for instance

1:46:30if somebody walks up to you

1:46:32and says

1:46:37okay

1:46:37you might not speak korean and you might

1:46:40not know what's being asked of you but

1:46:42you sure as hell recognize that as a

1:46:44language

1:46:45that primitive affirmation is

1:46:49you don't know what's being said to you

1:46:51but you recognize it as language it is

1:46:54addressed to you

1:46:55it is calling for a response

1:46:57your response can be i don't know what

1:46:59you're saying in english

1:47:02but in any case you've recognized and

1:47:04affirmed that a language is being spoken

1:47:07similarly you can think about a

1:47:08disagreement that you might have with

1:47:10like uh your roommate or friend or

1:47:12family member let's say you have a

1:47:14disagreement about who was the last one

1:47:15to do the dishes and you're saying it

1:47:17was you who did it and thus your

1:47:20roommate's turn your roommate's like

1:47:21[ __ ] you man i did it last time you know

1:47:22it blah blah

1:47:24you're gonna have a disagreement okay

1:47:26at no point in that disagreement i hope

1:47:29is someone gonna pull out a gun and pop

1:47:32a cap in your ass there will be no

1:47:34stabbing

1:47:35there will be no

1:47:37hands thrown

1:47:39this won't probably won't even involve

1:47:41yelling

1:47:42it'll just be a disagreement

1:47:45all of those rules

1:47:49and assumptions about the fair

1:47:53movement through a disagreement

1:47:56is biahun they are affirmed and accepted

1:48:00even prior

1:48:02to the fight

1:48:04the beyahun here is the rules of the

1:48:06game that you accept

1:48:09and it suggests that

1:48:11implicit presupposed by every

1:48:14disagreement

1:48:15whether it is a physical conflict

1:48:18the invasion of another country

1:48:22or a disagreement about who did the

1:48:23dishes

1:48:24is

1:48:25an implicit presupposed groundwork

1:48:29of rules and norms and expectations

1:48:32in other words a symbolic structure

1:48:35that's why for beyahum

1:48:38we mean primordial symbolization

1:48:40affirmed

1:48:51now what can happen after that

1:48:53this is freud's word for negation

1:48:56this is his 1925 essay

1:49:00that lacan makes a lot of and invites

1:49:02his friend hippolyte to comment on that

1:49:04i mentioned earlier

1:49:05negation is not too different

1:49:10from the other german term that hegel

1:49:12really liked

1:49:16halfhaven

1:49:17which you know if you read german this

1:49:20is a really tricky term because it means

1:49:22that wants to cancel and to preserve to

1:49:24affirm and also deny

1:49:27and lacan's point here is that

1:49:30with verneinong or negation

1:49:32in order to negate something you have to

1:49:35first

1:49:36determine that it exists in the first

1:49:38place to be negated

1:49:41so veroning presupposes a primitive

1:49:44affirmation that the thing to be negated

1:49:46in fact exists

1:49:50and then this for those of you that know

1:49:52is repression

1:49:57and i have this set up in such a way to

1:49:59suggest that

1:50:02repression presupposes negation which

1:50:04presupposes affirmation

1:50:08all of which

1:50:11is denied to the psychotic so maddie to

1:50:13answer your question

1:50:15if the paternal function doesn't happen

1:50:18or if it occurs and is foreclosed

1:50:20psychosis is the

1:50:22result

1:50:24now wait for it

1:50:26if the paternal function partially

1:50:29occurs

1:50:30if the know

1:50:31of language of the primary caregiver was

1:50:34faint

1:50:35or weak or inconsistent in other words

1:50:39if castration

1:50:41is

1:50:41partial

1:50:43the result is not psychosis

1:50:46but another clinical structure

1:50:51perversion

1:50:52so perversion is partial castration

1:51:03psychosis

1:51:10is no castration

1:51:14and you guessed it

1:51:20neurosis

1:51:22is complete castration

1:51:27i think the most interesting one here is

1:51:29perversion macan was really fascinated

1:51:31with psychosis

1:51:33freud was really fascinated with

1:51:34neurosis

1:51:36i think however that lacan's great

1:51:38insight is around how perversion

1:51:40operates

1:51:41the sadist and the masochists which fall

1:51:43under the category of perversion

1:51:46are not interested in pain

1:51:48yours or theirs

1:51:50they're fundamentally interested in

1:51:52completing the partial castration that

1:51:55they underwent

1:51:57when they were coming up

1:51:59they want to amplify the law

1:52:03the sadist

1:52:05doesn't want to hit you with the whip

1:52:08what gets them off is showing it to you

1:52:11talking to you about how bad you've been

1:52:14about how much you deserve this

1:52:18what they're doing in this moment is

1:52:20amplifying the law

1:52:24that they only partially received

1:52:26through the paternal function

1:52:28so maddie this is the second answer to

1:52:29your question

1:52:31if the paternal function is partial

1:52:34or faint

1:52:36one of the clinical structures that can

1:52:38emerge according to lacan is perversion

1:52:42and people who fall into this category

1:52:44of perversion

1:52:47are going to be people who are working

1:52:49very hard

1:52:51to amplify and shore up

1:52:54their weak relationship to the symbolic

1:52:57to the law

1:53:00and usually the way that they get that

1:53:02amped up is by injecting the law with

1:53:04juice

1:53:06making you scream for it

1:53:09but it's not about your pain it's about

1:53:12the legislative function of prohibition

1:53:16that exists only weekly in their lives

1:53:19i don't mean weekly as in every week i

1:53:21mean

1:53:22faintly

1:53:24shallowly incompletely

1:53:28this is what's going to set us up to

1:53:30talk about god's commandment that we

1:53:32enjoy

1:53:35lacan's tenant

1:53:37is that god

1:53:39is a sadist

1:53:45who gets off

1:53:47on moving subjects to anxiety

1:53:50by commanding them to do [ __ ] that they

1:53:53are unable to accomplish

1:53:55like enjoy

1:53:58because what castration is what the name

1:54:01of the father does what no and

1:54:02prohibition does

1:54:05is it denies you access to juices to

1:54:08enjoyment

1:54:11it simultaneously produces the real

1:54:17and marks for

1:54:19experience

1:54:21the violation of the symbolic

1:54:24known as we saw

1:54:27we'll come to that

1:54:28soon enough

1:54:31but for now that's the answer to the

1:54:32question mattie

1:54:36what else

1:54:37what else do y'all have so far

1:54:39i'm happy to answer any question that i

1:54:42can

1:54:43and if i can't answer it by god i'll

1:54:44find somebody who can

1:54:47what happens if the no comes from the

1:54:49maternal figner

1:54:51totally fine

1:54:53that could happen if you have like

1:54:55absolutely yeah if you have a if you

1:54:57have like a single parent

1:55:00you can have a parent who's bifurcated

1:55:02and has to play both roles

1:55:04on the one hand would have to be the

1:55:06desirous other

1:55:07and then have to at the same time

1:55:09perhaps a few minutes later

1:55:11take that executive step to perform the

1:55:14paternal function

1:55:17so for instance let's i i think it's

1:55:19helpful to use examples here

1:55:21let's say you're raised by a single dad

1:55:24and um

1:55:26you're sitting there and you're watching

1:55:29a show and it's a little bit scary

1:55:33and your dad is looking down at his

1:55:34phone

1:55:35your dad is your primary caregiver he's

1:55:38usually performing as such

1:55:40he's looking down at his phone in a

1:55:42moment

1:55:43of scary stuff happening on the screen

1:55:46and he laughs out loud

1:55:49and you think to yourself what the hell

1:55:51is going on over there

1:55:54i'm terrified and you're laughing

1:55:57what on earth are you looking at then

1:56:00the child immediately realizes that the

1:56:02dad is looking down at his phone

1:56:04at some cat video about a cat who lost

1:56:07all its fur and it's growing back in

1:56:09patches and it's really hilarious and

1:56:11amazing and wow and what what a terrific

1:56:15cat mom this person is to take care it's

1:56:17inspiring and hilarious that's the best

1:56:20story ever right

1:56:23one of the things that the dad could say

1:56:24in this moment is

1:56:26oh don't worry honey it's just grown up

1:56:28stuff

1:56:32that is the paternal function

1:56:34is to create a barrier

1:56:37that tells the child first you don't

1:56:39have to worry about what this is

1:56:42i've got this it's just grown up stuff

1:56:47and by introducing that cut or that

1:56:49barrier

1:56:51in a way like contains the child

1:56:55now the opposite move here oliver would

1:56:57be for the dad to push pause on the

1:56:59scary movie and then show the kid the

1:57:02[ __ ] up cat video that the dad was

1:57:04just watching which is probably a little

1:57:07bit too much information for the kid to

1:57:09handle

1:57:10because little kids are like oh my god

1:57:11what's wrong with that cat that cat

1:57:13looks sick the people could be like

1:57:15daddy is that cat gonna die

1:57:18and then the dad if they don't perform

1:57:20the paternal function is gonna be like

1:57:22yes johnny and you're gonna die too

1:57:26someday not now johnny you don't know

1:57:28when it's gonna happen but someday

1:57:30you're gonna die you know what johnny

1:57:33we've got a history of heart disease in

1:57:34this family and i feel a little

1:57:36palpitation in my own chest right now as

1:57:39i look at this cat oh no johnny i think

1:57:42i might be dying right now

1:57:44now if you're a little kid and your

1:57:46parent is doing [ __ ] like this i

1:57:48exaggerate for effect right

1:57:50the result is anxiety

1:57:52because all the feelings and experiences

1:57:55that the kid was having which the kid

1:57:57thought they were having with their

1:57:59parent

1:58:00are now completely overrun

1:58:03overwhelmed

1:58:04the fear that the child now has

1:58:07regarding the potential death of their

1:58:09primary caregiver remember it's a single

1:58:11dad we're talking about here

1:58:14so completely overwhelms the fear

1:58:18that they had while watching a movie

1:58:20that they know is fake

1:58:23that anxiety is the result

1:58:26so if there's just one person

1:58:30one of the things that can happen is

1:58:32that that person can do a good job

1:58:35of keeping their desire in check and not

1:58:38letting it overwhelm the child by saying

1:58:40things like

1:58:42that's just a grown-up topic i'll

1:58:44explain it to you when you would get a

1:58:45little older

1:58:47that kind of stuff can be helpful it can

1:58:49perform that prohibitive protective

1:58:53function

1:58:54that the paternal figure is designed to

1:58:56do

1:58:57so you can have two people

1:59:00performing separate functions or one

1:59:02person doing both

1:59:04that's an option here

1:59:06what will usually happen as well

1:59:09if you have a single parent and here i

1:59:11mean i'm only just working with the

1:59:13logic that lacan gives us here

1:59:16if indeed the name of the father is

1:59:19primarily invoked by whoever plays the

1:59:22maternal part for you

1:59:25you can imagine a situation where you've