The untimely relevance of Jacques Lacan’s theories

In this study, the author attempts to show how some of Jacques Lacan’s hypotheses qualified as ‘untimely’, ‘not relevant’ to the period during which he gave his seminars, were in fact used to support what he referred to as the ‘psychoanalytical act’ and the ‘current’ concepts developed in the field of psychoanalysis. The author recalls the role that the encounter with psychosis played in Lacanian theory, in fact in the various domains of psychosis, and in the female perception of sexual pleasure, and going even further, in the ‘invention’ of object a, but always with reference to Freudian theory either to use it as a basis for an argument, or in an attempt to deal with these questions over and beyond Freudian concepts, but without excluding them. Jaspers’ calling into question as ‘mirage’ of the ‘relations of comprehension’ used during the period when he developed his hypothesis is, according to the author, on a similar level to this ‘invention’ of object a that Lacan qualified as being ‘completely apart from any question of meaning’. These concepts are used by the author to test the current relevance of Jacques Lacan’s theories to ‘ultra-modern’ subjects/objects, at odds with the Alter-ego, which constitute objects of the market, ‘‘these last looks and these giggly voices’’ and the rise of segregation and racism. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]