ABSTRACT
‘The Subversion of the Subject and the Dialectic of Desire in the Freudian Unconscious’ is a text presented by Lacan at a colloquium of philosophers gathered at Royaumont (France) on 19–23 September 1960 to discuss the concept of the dialectic. Generally regarded as one of the most enigmatic of all of Lacan’s writings, ‘The Subversion of the Subject’ endeavours to present the dynamism of desire as a dialectical notion, thus establishing a series of connections with philosophical thought. This chapter provides a detailed reading of Lacan’s text by attempting to discern the key questions confronted by Lacan at a time when his thought was developing newer and more complex speculations concerning the link between language, desire and the drives; the scientific status of psychoanalysis; and the relationship between philosophy and the psychoanalytic conceptualisation of knowledge and subjectivity. This commentary looks in particular at how ‘The Subversion of the Subject’ marks a major shift in Lacan’s thought by reframing the function of desire as presented in Seminar VII (The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, 1959–60).
