From Cogito to Covid: Rethinking Lacan’s “Science and Truth” (The Palgrave Lacan Series)

This edited collection examines the contemporary relevance of Lacan’s 1965 essay “Science and Truth” to debates on science, psychoanalysis, ethics and truth. In doing so, it re-considers the established understanding of its argument that psychoanalysis is the only science for the human subject. Over fifty years after Lacan attempted to formalize the relationship between science and psychoanalysis in “Science and Truth,” this volume returns to the categorically systematic yet deeply puzzling ideas of this lecture-turned-essay. The volume begins with a rigorous analysis of the formal logic animating the cogito, which serves as a foundation for the remainder of the book to force a confrontation between the themes laid out in “Science and Truth” and the cultural, intellectual, political, economic, and, of course, scientific movements that we face today. The following five chapters examine various contemporary phenomena, including the destabilizing forces of post-truthism and political nihilism, the ‘non-science’ of filmic depictions of science, the prosopopeia of Lacan’s so-called secular Name of the Father, the pseudoscientific discourse of involuntary celibates, or ‘incels,’ and, finally, the alliance between science and capitalism that has developed out of the Covid-19 pandemic. This project offers an important contribution to contemporary debates about science and ethics that will be of interest to academics working in psychoanalytic and critical theory, and the philosophy and history of science; as well as to clinicians. Contents Notes on Contributors 1: Introduction Science and the Möbius Convergence and Segregation Science and Psychoanalysis Science and Truth References 2: Formal Truth and the Unconscious Part One Part Two Part Three References 3: Post-Truth-as-Cause: Remarks on the Division of the Subject in the Era of Post-Truth Politics Some Preliminary Remarks on “Post-Truth” and Its Vicissitudes The Cartesian Reversal and the Subject of Psychoanalysis “I, Truth, Speak”: Truth as Cut, Truth as Cause La Science et la Post-Vérité Conclusion: Politics and Truth References 4: Sci-Fi and Truth: Saturated Subjects in the Films of Claire Denis and Jordan Peele Truth-as-Cause Teaching Taboo: High Life’s Systems of Exchange “I Forgot—Nobody Cares about the End of the World” References 5: The Truth of Lacan’s Name of the Father: A Reconsideration of the “Truth” in “Science and Truth” What Is Religion? What’s in a Name? My Father Is Not Your Father What Is Universal? Conclusion References 6: Mogged by the Market: Science, Subjectivity, and the Rationalization of Sex Incel Science Incel Lexicon Incel Utopianism Conclusion—Science, Sex, Psychosis References 7: Capital with Science: COVID-19 as a Case of Successful Paranoia? 1 2 3 References Index Jacques Lacan is one of the most important and influential thinkers of the 20th century. The reach of this influence continues to grow as we settle into the 21st century, the resonance of Lacan’s thought arguably only beginning now to be properly felt, both in terms of its application to clinical matters and in its application to a range of human activities and interests. The Palgrave Lacan Series is a book series for the best new writing in the Lacanian field, giving voice to the leading writers of a new generation of Lacanian thought. The series will comprise original monographs and thematic, multi-authored collections. The books in the series will explore aspects of Lacan’s theory from new perspectives and with original insights. There will be books focused on particular areas of or issues in clinical work. There will be books focused on applying Lacanian theory to areas and issues beyond the clinic, to matters of society, politics, the arts and culture. Each book, whatever its particular concern, will work to expand our understanding of Lacan’s theory and its value in the 21st century.