Psychoanalysis is a terribly efficient instrument, and because it is more and more a prestigious instrument, we run the risk of using it with a purpose for which it was not made for, and in this way we may degrade it.
Jacques LacanRead
If psychoanalysis clarifies some facts of sexuality, it is not by aiming at them in their own reality, not in biological experience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Lacan argues that psychoanalysis does not grasp sexuality through biological understanding but through its psychological implications.
In this quote, Jacques Lacan asserts that psychoanalysis does not solely aim to understand sexuality based on biological facts or experiences. Instead, it focuses on the deeper psychological realities that govern human sexuality, suggesting that our understanding of sexuality is more complex and intertwined with our thoughts, beliefs, and social contexts than mere biological definitions.
Themes
PsychoanalysisSexualityPsychologyBiologicalUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a psychology lecture discussing the nature of human emotions.
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Meaning is produced not only by the relationship between the signifier and the signified but also, crucially, by the position of the signifiers in relation to other signifiers.
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