The Singularity of Your Being

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I want to distinguish between identity, which is sort of socially, socially constructed it's your social persona that you present to the world. And then what i in work have called, ah, the singularity of your being, which has to doike a combination of your psychological life, but also your bodily drives and how you are in the world. So for him, ah, or at least in my interpretation of him, the idea was to ac es something about the truth of the singularities of your being. But that's completely different from, ah, you know, truth in the scientific sense of the word, because it it implies that every one's truth isike, specific to them

Neuroscience has given us great insights into how our brains work. But there is still room for purely humanistic disciplines to help us think through our thoughts and emotions, not to mention the meaning of our lives. Mari Ruti is a professor of English literature, with expertise in critical theory, gender studies, and psychoanalysis, especially the work of French theorist Jacques Lacan. We talk about the psychological drive that is motivated by what Lacan calls “lack,” which is related to “desire.” We use this as a way to think about such essential human experiences as mourning, creativity, and love. (We don’t talk about love enough here on the podcast.)

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Mari Ruti received her Ph.D. in comparative literature from Harvard University. She is currently a Distinguished Professor of critical theory and gender and sexuality studies at the University of Toronto. She is the co-editor of the Psychoanalytic Horizons book series for Bloomsbury.

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