Report: Jacques Lacan, Past and Present: A Dialogue Jacques Lacan, Past and Present: A Dialogue is a collaborative work by philosopher and historian of psychoanalysis Élisabeth Roudinesco . Published in English in 2014 by Columbia University Press , the book explores the legacy and continued relevance of Jacques Lacan's thought thirty years after his death. Core Dialogue Participants
: A renowned philosopher who discusses his "indebtedness" to Lacan, explaining how Lacanian concepts helped him navigate the philosophical extremes of Jean-Paul Sartre and Louis Althusser. Jacques lacan, past and present : a dialogue
: The book addresses the Lacanian ethics of "not yielding to one's desire," contrasting it with traditional moral systems. Significance of the Work Report: Jacques Lacan, Past and Present: A Dialogue
: Both authors discuss the unprecedented nature of Lacan's later years, where he appeared to "undo" his own theoretical omnipotence in public. This is exemplified by his use of the Borromean knot to demonstrate an inability to fully close his own arguments. : The book addresses the Lacanian ethics of
: The dialogue frames Lacan not just as a clinician but as a "master" in the Socratic sense, offering a unique politics of the subject, desire, and the unconscious.
: France’s leading historian of psychoanalysis, who provides a historical critique of the French analytic world and examines the link between politics and psychoanalysis in Lacan’s work. Key Themes and Insights
: A central point of agreement is Lacan's view that psychology is a "false science" and an enemy to the true practice of psychoanalysis. The authors argue that contemporary "self-domestication" of psychoanalysis—turning it into a subset of clinical psychology—threatens the discipline's survival.