Edinburgh University Press Derrida and Lacan: Another Writing

Derrida and Lacan: Another Writing is a major comparative study of these two giants of contemporary thought. It contrasts Derrida's deconstruction with Lacan's psychoanalytic thought and argues that Lacan presents us with a form of deconstruction different to Derrida's. This Lacanian approach opens up the possibility of engaging critically with Derridean deconstruction. Lacan demonstrates that an attention to the order of the imaginary, along with the genesis of the human being and his language, should cause us to modify our understanding of the relation between language and the real, which is deconstruction's concern. Michael Lewis argues that this is what psychoanalysis offers to philosophy - a way of relating its own transcendental thought to the insights of the empirical sciences, which Lacan draws upon in his theory of the genesis of the human being and of language. Lewis argues that Derrida's thought represents the most advanced formulation of transcendental philosophy, and as a result, if the Lacanian criticism may be applied to his work, then it may be applied to all transcendental thought.This book engages with the entire development of Lacan's thought in its attempt to demonstrate that Lacan presents an alternative to Derrida's understanding of the nature of 'archi-writing'. It represents a systematic development of Slavoj e'i e'ek's attempt to present a Lacanian alternative to Derridean deconstruction. It will be of interest to all readers in continental thought, transcendental philosophy, psychoanalytic theory, and the relations between philosophy and the natural and human sciences.