Après-Coup, the Future Perfect, the Hermeneutic Circle, Alienation and Separation

The author analyzes the Lacanian doctrine of temporality, and the paradoxical concept of time scansion. He lingers on aprÈs-coup (afterwardness) and on the past future. He illustrates the fundamental difference between the hermeneutic and Lacanian conceptions of “ring.” Then the author illustrates certain uses Lacan made of mathematics and logic, analyzing in particular the way in which he promoted the concepts of “alienation” and “separation.”