ABSTRACT
In the post-paternal era proclaimed by those who say that the old fathers have disappeared, psychoanalysis strives to maintain the gap between the sociological narrative and the lived experience of subjects. Gone is the father of authority, of tradition, of patriarchy – gone is the father of the Law. In his place has emerged a new paternity, one that is contractual, negotiated and responsible. This paternity would be nothing more than an equilibrium between rights and duties, negotiated by contracts. In the near future we might thus imagine a pacified paternity, devoid of the excesses of passion aroused by the old system. Paternity diffracted, defined by eminently variable norms, would especially suit the new arrangements of reconstituted families. This is a reformist version of the father who is finally led back to a function as instrument of social utility, divorced from his drama. The reverse side of this pluralization, of his reduction to an instrument, is a new version of the humiliation of the father, the father who is evaluated, for example, with regard to his authority. Traditionally tied to the paternal function, the question of authority returns through external demands for the old social order: “Control your children!”
