Law and ethics

The goal of this chapter is to introduce the ethics of psychoanalysis and several concepts from Lacanian theory, using Lacan’s discussion of the Antigone tragedy and selected strands of its critical reception as a point of entry. In particular, it identifies and investigates the ethical dimension of desire that Lacan argues is exemplified in the dramatic action of the play. The chapter then elaborates the implications of the focus on desire for conceptualising ethics in terms of desire. It suggests that the psychoanalytic take on ethics marks a substantial and formal difference from other forms of ethical thought that preceded it in that it can conceptualise ethical action beyond ideals of the good. The meaning of this is explained by addressing criticisms of the approach articulated by Judith Butler (2000a). The chapter contextualises the criticisms and uses them as an occasion to further explore how the Lacanian approach posits an originary and irreducible relationship between law and desire. The discussion concludes by developing the Lacanian approach to ethics into a framework for analysing ideals of the good from a non-moral perspective.