The importance of being earnestly stupid - a public lecture by Dr Cindy Zeiher
"It seems to me that it is difficult not to speak stupidly about language ... stupidity, nevertheless has to be nourished"
For Lacan, the signifier is stupid. But as subjects we are stupid to regard it thus in so far as one function of the signifier is to dupe us. Lacan’s Seminar XXI, Les non-dupes errent (1973-1974) is fascinating because it puts stupidity to work by first asking the question, who is the stupid subject? This seems like an obscure question but it really isn’t especially when we bring to mind how most of us try to avoid acting stupidly or be seen by others as stupid. Lacan then raises the leading question, who is the subject who calls the other stupid? Here Lacan’s interrogation returns to the function of the Name-of-the-Father, insisting that it is this symbolic authority which provides orientation towards stupidity. Lacan goes further by framing stupidity as an important praxis, a know-how of sorts which is taken up as a specific episteme
by Dany Nobus and Malcolm Quinn (2005) and also as an ethic by Gioele Cima (2021). Here we can say that there are two sorts of stupidity, for example stupidity consisting of an absence of cleverness or knowledge, as opposed to stupidity as an underlying presence of the view that there is no such thing as a naïve question. Of course, we as Lacanians vacillate between these different expressions of stupidity,
painfully aware that one of functions of psychoanalysis is to hone our subjective
stupidity into something which is hopefully earnest and disciplined.
The lecture is open to all, but registration is essential.
Please do so by sending us a message on Facebook or emailing info@lacan.org.nz or jenny@jennywoods.co.nz.
Fees are $10 for in-person attendance, $5 for Zoom and free for CLA members.
We look forward to seeing you.
For Lacan, the signifier is stupid. But as subjects we are stupid to regard it thus in so far as one function of the signifier is to dupe us. Lacan’s Seminar XXI, Les non-dupes errent (1973-1974) is fascinating because it puts stupidity to work by first asking the question, who is the stupid subject? This seems like an obscure question but it really isn’t especially when we bring to mind how most of us try to avoid acting stupidly or be seen by others as stupid. Lacan then raises the leading question, who is the subject who calls the other stupid? Here Lacan’s interrogation returns to the function of the Name-of-the-Father, insisting that it is this symbolic authority which provides orientation towards stupidity. Lacan goes further by framing stupidity as an important praxis, a know-how of sorts which is taken up as a specific episteme
by Dany Nobus and Malcolm Quinn (2005) and also as an ethic by Gioele Cima (2021). Here we can say that there are two sorts of stupidity, for example stupidity consisting of an absence of cleverness or knowledge, as opposed to stupidity as an underlying presence of the view that there is no such thing as a naïve question. Of course, we as Lacanians vacillate between these different expressions of stupidity,
painfully aware that one of functions of psychoanalysis is to hone our subjective
stupidity into something which is hopefully earnest and disciplined.
The lecture is open to all, but registration is essential.
Please do so by sending us a message on Facebook or emailing info@lacan.org.nz or jenny@jennywoods.co.nz.
Fees are $10 for in-person attendance, $5 for Zoom and free for CLA members.
We look forward to seeing you.