Ignorance Is Not the Negation of Knowledge

Our final episode on this often overlooked essay in Écrits begins by returning to the topic of speech. Because speech is always addressed, its meaning is always intersubjective — in keeping with the etymology of “communication,” which has nothing to do with unity but, instead, traces its origin to the Latin word for sharing. Classic 1950s Lacan.

Which brings us back to another classic theme: truth vs. knowledge. This time, however, the operative word is ignorance. According to Lacan, ignorance is not the negation of knowledge but, instead, its most elaborate form. And psychoanalysis follows suit: It’s along the pathway of learned ignorance that the analyst helps the analysand discover the outer limit of knowledge: death.

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