Zhuangzi with Lacan

Brandon Van Tran

Abstract


The two main figures of authority in contemporary psychoanalysis are Freud and Lacan. Yet there is an intrusion that is missed in this utterance. Zhuangzi serves as this extra intrusion, the third figure of authority in psychoanalysis. Both Freud and Lacan arguably owe their existence to such a text. There is a gap, however, in that Freud and Lacan published limited engagements with Zhuangzi. This study aims not to plug the gap altogether, but to confront it. A close reading of the text suggests a pairing of Zhuangzi with Lacan and not the other way around, in the precise sense that Lacan materialized Zhuangzi.

Keywords


Žižek; Lacan; Zhuangzi; Laozi; Philosophy; Critical Theory

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References


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