A.L.I.

Responsable : Gérard Amiel 

When Freud ushered in the dawn of psychoanalysis, it caused an unprecedented upheaval, shaking to the core our conception of mankind, since it revealed that without him realizing it, the very essence of man’s existence was structured by an unconscious determinism.

Come the time of Lacan, this cause that drives mankind proved to be linked to the structure of language itself. Today, those willing to take the time to read their way through Lacan’s work (written texts, transcriptions of his seminars) will see that they are provided with the proper basis with which to light the path for each of us to clear a way through the prevailing atmosphere of obscurantism that paradoxically colours our modern era, that is steeped in science.

Consequently, as regards both a governing principle in the life of mankind, and his behaviour as a citizen, an alternative route opens up – a further option to remaining immersed in a passion for ignorance, a state that modern-day teaching likes to preserve to the point of spreading a general mind-numbing effect across the board. It must certainly be remembered that the common structure is determined by a desire not to know anything, which is a means of remaining wholly unaffected by anything new, and above all, ensuring that nothing can come along and upset the normal routine.

It is also worth adding that the double reference to both Freud and Lacan is not born of any form of religious reverence, nor are they quoted together by any automatic reflex, so characteristic of their followers who hold in great esteem the qualities bestowed on them as individuals. No, here both Freud and Lacan are quoted together because from all the prevailing discourses that dominate thought today, psychoanalysis is the only one that finally gives us a possible haven in which to place desire. And in fact this discourse proves to be the only thing capable of providing us with the decisive choice as to whether the symptom be no longer our only relationship modality with the Real order, and whether our social link be determined by something other than habitual petrification.

Over and above these observations, is there any reason why the English-speaking world should continue to be denied the basics of such breakthroughs, basics from which it is constantly cut off, save the odd few which are sparingly whittled down to odd dribs and drabs?

This new English page on the ALI website aims to make up for this bizarrely gaping whole. Made up of several sections (adult psychoanalysis, child psychoanalysis, dogmatic fields, press and book reviews, news), it intends to provide a platform for presenting several contemporary works based on Lacan, firstly in French, and then translated into English, as well as offering fellow anglophone psychoanalysts (from the UK, Ireland, the USA and Australia) a site to publish their own theories developed around concerns on the subject of psychoanalysis.

Janvier 2010