CLA
CENTRE FOR LACANIAN ANALYSIS
233 Mount Eden Road
AUCKLAND
New Zealand
www.lacan.org.nz

”the paradox of Jouissance includes the problematic into that dialectics of happiness which we analysts have perhaps rashly set out to explore”

Jacques Lacan, Seminar VII  

Enjoyment is an unsatisfactory translation of the French term "Jouissance" that Lacan uses by reference, not so much to pleasure as such, but to pleasure that is 'beyond the pleasure principle". Jouissance is oriented towards violence, destruction and death. Lacan is interested in the different positions a subject can occupy in relation to Jouissance and their effect on various forms of pathology.

The symptom for Freud is a compromise formation between Unconscious desire and the demands of the social Other. It is a clandestine satisfaction of un Unconscious desire, an unconscious place for Jouissance, a codified message addressed to an Other. Psychoanalysis does not aim at suppressing it, but at modifying it so that Jouissance becomes compatible with the exigencies of social life.

Our epoch seems to be marked by the proliferation of symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and other forms of suffering: addictions, bulimia, self mutilation, to name only a few. Here, the Subject appears to be swamped in an unlimited Jouissance, experienced in a solitary manner, and directly on the body. In this context, the Subject appears inconsistent and marked by existential emptiness, in itself source of anxiety.

Paradoxically, contemporary forms of treatment, in ignoring the unconscious, reinforce this tendency by proposing further objects of enjoyment, such as (legal!) drugs, confining the subject into a role of user or consumer. Treatments aim at conforming to a supposed normality. However the norm has shifted and there is a lack of sign posts. The law is overcome by the progress of science, which creates new ethical dilemmas.

This conference will address questions pertaining to the contemporary forms of enjoyment:

Are there new symptoms?

Is there a new Subject of the Unconscious?

Are there new objects of enjoyment?

What has become of the social bond?

What is the contribution of Psychoanalysis to this debate?

The conference programme will include workshops by keynote speakers; Dr. Leonardo Rodriguez and Dr. Esther Faye, scheduled for the Saturday and Sunday respectively.  Individual papers, scheduled for Thursday and Friday, will be for 30 minutes with 20 minutes allocated for discussion. 

The deadline for the submission of abstracts to the review committee has been extended till Friday 21 November 2008.  Abstracts can be emailed to Gustavo Restivo at gustavo@xtra.co.nz Acceptance of your paper will be confirmed by 24 November 2008.  

We look forward to seeing you at the conference. 

  CONFERENCE PROGRAMME