Lacan is an influential figure of 20th Century thought. Being a
psychoanalyst, a linguist and at the same time a philosopher, in his theory
he combines all three of these disciplines. Even in his later works, he tried
to combine his theory with mathematical formalization.
His theory influenced three important political thinkers: Laclau, & / #381 / i& / #382 / ek and
Badiou. The purpose of this dissertation is mainly to examine Lacan&rsquo / s
thought and its impasses which could be found especially in the political
applications of his theory. First I start with a critical reading of Lacan&rsquo / s own
works. I try to figure out the idealizations, presuppositions and blind spots
hidden in his work.
I develop my critical reading by focusing on the works of Laclau, & / #381 / i& / #382 / ek and
Badiou. The main argument of this dissertation is, such a critical reading of
these philosophers will lead us to a general questioning of Lacan&rsquo / s theory
and the legitimacy of its applications.
Lacan&rsquo / s use of the impossibility as a founding principle and his passion for formalization cause several idealizations, like the idealization of the
neutrality of the signifier, the idealization of the non-represented and so
on. These problems are extended and transformed into other ones in his
disciples&rsquo / works. For Laclau, the problem is transformed into a purely
content-free understanding of elements of democracy which ends up with
paradoxical results. For & / #381 / i& / #382 / ek and Badiou, because of their insistence on a
political theory based on the impossible real, their subversive theories end
up with a theory which take the form of messianic discourses.
What I propose is a reconsideration of the role of the theory on the
understanding of human reality: in principle every theory excludes some
portions of the richness of human life-world, therefore every theory must
have a retrospective and critical stance against its own founding
principles. This cannot be done by formalized theories which keep the
formal structure of itself untouchable.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12608973/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 October 2007 |
| Creators | Yazici, Savas |
| Contributors | Grunberg, David |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Ph.D. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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