Civilization and organization require interplay between the spontaneous imaginary and the objective character of the symbolic, but these two are always in tension. Hysteria represents an attempt to end that tension through the destruction of the symbolic by the imaginary. A psychoanalytic theory of hysteria, based on the work of Lacan, Verhaeghe and Chasseguet-Smirgel is developed. The interdependence and antagonism of the imaginary and the symbolic are explored. Four aspects of this antagonism toward organization are discussed.

Lecture held in may 1990, published, in French, in Collège International de Philosophie, ed., Lacan et les philosophes (Paris: Albin Michel, 1991), pp. 21-36. Allow me to inscribe here the following excerpt from Jacques Lacan’s text: The register of being of he who could be placed by a name must by necessity be preserved by the funerary act.

The aim of this paper is to show in what terms reality can be considered as a stratification of surfaces by developing Mario Perniola’s philosophy of transit. The first part will deal with the etymology of the word transit, in order to explain its meanings and uses. As it will be clarified, the development of the notion of transit goes together with the conception of reality as deep in the sense of full, available, rich, as the realm of “difference” and “enigmas”. The second part will explain the particular conception of temporality implied in the transit. Together with Perniola’s analysis, Nietzschean and Deleuzian reflections about “amor fati” and “eternal return” will be further explored. This concept is crucial to understand not only Perniola’s overall philosophy by clarifying his position against postmodern thinkers; it also provides a theoretical framework from which the task and the challenge of the philosopher in the contemporary world emerge.

I – As a philosopher, what is it that interests you in psychoanalysis, and why?   II – What is the most significant contribution that philosophy has made to psychoanalysis, at least from your personal approach to psychoanalysis?   III – Apart from Freud, what other psychoanalyst, according to you, has contributed significantly to a philosophical reflection on psychoanalysis? &…

The chief exposition of this paper attempts to explore (i) the Japanese concept of amae which indicates the dependency need of a child in the dyad that Takeo Doi explored extensively in his book The Anatomy of Dependence; and (ii) the quality of transience in human life-cycle interwoven with the evolutionary dynamic quality of amae working within it, which finds inquiry in the treatment of Osamu Kitayama’s works.

This essay analyzes temporal-spatial differentiation in its relation to autoerotic sexuality. According to Nicolas Abraham, the principle for time/space différance is transfiguration of the interval’s regularity into rhythm. The analysis presented here is based on an examination of Gaspar Noé’s film We Fuck Alone. This film discloses the Lacanian maxim there is no sexual relationship in at least two respects. First, it demonstrates a fairly complex structure that might be called masturbating together alone. Second, this masturbating together alone includes not only a phantasmatic support, but also a prosthetic support that industrializes masturbation. Dear Dr Sergio, Let me introduce myself I am Matt Wolf, Drama and Literature critic at the Guardian U.K. We are celebrating this month Introducing Lacan: Key Concepts. May I ask you for an online interview?